On May 29, the three-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Forum on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development opened at the SCO training and demonstration base for agricultural technology exchange in Yangling City, a national agricultural hi-tech industrial demonstration zone in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Leveraging its agri-tech prowess, Yangling has shared a large number of new agricultural varieties, technologies and models with countries in the SCO and beyond, contributing China solutions to their poverty reduction.

In 2019, Northwest A&F University in Yangling cooperated with the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (TIIAME) and Tashkent State Agrarian University of Uzbekistan to establish the Chinese-Uzbek demonstration center for modern water-saving agri-technologies. They carried out in-depth cooperation and exchanges in agricultural water-saving and precision agriculture.

In the China-Uzbek water-saving agriculture overseas demonstration park located in Uzbekistan's Tashkent, the application of solar sprinkler irrigation and intelligent drip irrigation technology integrating watering and fertilizing not only saves energy and reduces consumption, but also saves water.

In addition, field data can be uploaded to the cloud, and automatic, precise irrigation and fertilization can be realized through information collection and transmission, enabling remote management.

Through the commissioning and application of intelligent drip irrigation equipment integrating watering and fertilizing, the local cotton yield has been increased by 50 percent, water cut by 50 percent and investment reduced by 40 percent.

"We are very proud of the success of the project and the social benefits it has brought, and the continued investment in technology has played a key role," said Alim Pulatov, a professor at the TIIAME.

As an important force on agricultural science and technology in the Belt and Road Initiative, Yangling has been playing a pivotal role in the international exchanges and cooperation in this field for years.

Yangling has inked cooperative ties with over 60 countries in modern agriculture, established 13 international research and innovation cooperation platforms and 8 international cooperation parks, and sent 73 batches of expert teams.

Yangling has also signed cooperation agreements on agriculture with over 20 countries along the Belt and Road, including Kazakhstan, and carried out 300-plus international exchanges and cooperation activities. A total of 115 varieties and technical equipment on soil improvement, photovoltaic irrigation and others have been shipped to overseas parks on China-Europe freight trains for experimental demonstration.

A total of 41 participants from 12 countries, including Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Kenya, are now in Yangling, where they will learn about the approaches and fruits of China's efforts to promote ecological and green development during a 21-day exchange training. They are also the first batch of offline participants in the SCO training and demonstration base for agricultural technology exchange.

"It's a very good experience, and I hope this workshop can bring Costa Rica a more open mind and vision," said Ivania Solis Polis, a legislative adviser to the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly.

Since 2019, Yangling has held 54 online foreign aid training programs, such as the SCO e-commerce cooperation workshop and the SCO poverty reduction and agricultural development workshop, and trained more than 1,900 professionals in agriculture and poverty reduction for SCO countries and other developing countries.