SINO-GERMAN EXCHANGE ON AGRITECHNICAL PRODUCTION

After four years, the second phase of the Sino-German Crop Production and Agrotechnology Demonstration Park was successfully completed. A lot of intensive bilateral exchange was initiated through trainings, demonstrations, and conferences among other formats.

The German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL)’s Bilateral Cooperation Programme with its partner countries in general aims to contribute to a high-performance agriculture worldwide that works efficiently and conserves resources to ensure sustainable food security for people and at the same time protect the environment. In August 2015, the BMEL together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China launched the “Sino-German Crop Production and Agrotechnology Park” (DCALDP) project.

The overall objective of the project was to improve productivity, reduce negative environmental impacts and contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural land. Moreover, the project focussed on supporting sustainable development of Chinese agriculture through practical and theoretical trainings and demonstrations in the area of modern and environmental-friendly crop production. For this purpose, the project partner Jiangsu Provincial Agricultural Reclamation and Development Corporation (SKIAD) made available approximately 150 ha on their Huanghai Farm Branch, located in Jiangsu Province close to the Yellow Sea.

From August 2015 to July 2018, AFC in partnership with DLG International implemented phase 1 of the project. The execution of the four-year’s phase 2 from August 2018 to December 2022 was carried out by AFC leading the consortium of DLG International and IAK Agrarconsulting GmbH Leipzig. During more than seven years, our project activities mainly focussed on capacity building, trials and demonstrations as well as knowledge dissemination. The trials and demonstrations had the aim to utilise crop production potentials by means of modern, sustainable production and management methods, while at the same time, conserving natural resources and improving soil structure and fertility. Trials in more than 15 topics demonstrated improved crop production methods. For example, 20 to 30% less nitrogen was applied without losing yield.

Proper crop protection management demonstrated on the field an overall reduction of 30% of crop protection measures. Using adapted, precise machinery and applying enhanced soil preparation techniques, seed rates could be reduced by up to 30%. Rape was successfully integrated in the winter crop rotation and other new crop rotations were introduced also on external SKIAD farms, so that the area of field trials increased by more than 2,600 ha since 2021. Through land consolidation, reduction of fertiliser and seed, we achieved time and labour savings on the producers’ side.

To disseminate the knowledge of innovative cultivation measures, six field days were organised and visited by approximately 2,000 visitors on site. During the pandemic, the field days were hosted in hybrid format and counted 80,000 online viewers. Smaller field and demonstration days for external visitors at the project site and on other farms in several provinces were held. To make results and findings available to a wider public, press conferences and other crossdiscipline events took place also on national level in addition to field and demonstration days.

The activities were complemented by developing practical skills and methods for sustainable crop production technologies, farm management and business organisation, as well as in-depth knowledge how to use modern machinery. In practical courses on the demonstration fields, more than 2,000 participants could be trained. We reached out to more than 8,000 participants with our theory courses, i.e. seminars, lectures, webinars.

For our Chinese partners, a training of trainers (ToT) programme was a completely new format. The ToT for 16 young professionals from Huanghai Farm was very well appreciated with throughout positive feedback from the participants. Through the ToT, multipliers, and networking with trainings institutions, universities and scientific institutions, innovative capacity-building measures was piloted. More than 30 educational articles, four guidebooks, four handouts, six field guides and other learning and information materials including 34 educational information videos were developed. Moreover, five study tours to Europe for management staff of the partner took place promoting active exchange between Chinese and European experts and farm managers.

Enabling access to project information and exchange with experts, scientists and other interested parties from the

(Chinese) agricultural sector, a project platform on the Chinese social media WeChat was set up. Around 15,000 readers benefitted of more than 100 postings on the platform. After seven years of strengthening the Sino-German exchange, the project ended in December 2022.

A summary of the project and its achievements as well as some of the documents prepared can be downloaded here: Sino German Crop Production and Agrotechnology Demonstration Park (huanghai-demopark.cn).

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