Sowing the seeds of sustained growth

The Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture, the United Nations Development Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization have all been providing funds for agriculture technology transfers between the two sides, along with some private companies such as Sime Darby from Malaysia, according to Jin Ke, director of the national cooperation division of the International Cooperation Department of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

As one of the three research institutions directly administered by the Agriculture Ministry, the CAAS has signed cooperation agreements with Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines to promote technical services, postgraduate education, joint research projects and technology transfers, Jin said.

The Gates Foundation has also teamed up with CAAS and provided $18 million for research and development of super rice that was subsequently transferred to other ASEAN nations like Laos and Cambodia. The super rice has increased rice yields by 25 to 30 percent in these nations, he said.

Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng called for the development of a pilot research center in ASEAN nations during his visit to CAAS earlier this year. According to Jin, the first center is expected to be established in Myanmar next year.

"Agriculture is the fundamental industry for both China and ASEAN nations. Both sides have strong competitiveness in their own fields of research. For example, ASEAN nations have more advantages in research into tropical plants and animals," Jin said.

The forum was also a platform for several participants to publicize new technologies and breeds. Shanghai Lianye Agricultural Science and Technology Co Ltd announced a new breakthrough in fertilizing technology by developing a technique to mix water with fertilizers based on the plant's demand and the nutritional conditions of the land. The company has a joint venture with an Israeli enterprise to build a factory in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and will soon venture into the ASEAN markets.

"Our technology will reduce the consumption of water and fertilizers to the lowest level, and allow the plant to grow as fast as it can," said He Longhui, technical director of Lianye.

Seed trade is another crucial aspect for technology transfers, says Guo Chunyu, deputy director of the Technology Transfer Center at CAAS. Yang Bingpeng, researcher at the Institute of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology based in Haikou, capital of Hainan province, says that a newly developed sugar cane variety can increase the sugar yield to 90 tons a hectare from the current 60 tons. "The climate in Hainan is extremely similar to most of the ASEAN countries and the high-yield variety will be a bestseller in the region," he said.

Lu Yixuan, chairman of the board of directors of Yunnan Jinrui Seed Industry Co Ltd, said the super soft rice bred in Yunnan, a plateau province at a low latitude, is ideally suited to the climate in Southeast Asia and can help raise the yield, he says. "The yields from the new variety could be around 225 tons a hectare and we have already received interest from farmers in Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia," Lu said. "We have also sent technicians to instruct the ASEAN farmers on how to grow the super soft rice."