Vice President Yan Jianbing attends the meeting (Photo/Kuang Min)
From Nov 30 to Dec 1, “China-France-Africa Tripartite Forum on Horticultural Research and Innovation” was held in HZAU. More than 100 scholars from over 10 universities in China, France and Africa had discussion online themed on “Mutual Appreciation and Learning – Road to Horticultural Science and Technology Innovation”. The conference was presided over by Xu Qiang, Vice President of the College of Horticulture and Forestry, and Vice President of HZAU Yan Jianbing attended the meeting and delivered a speech.
Yan extended warm welcome and sincere thanks to the scholars attending the forum. He said that the forum aimed to deepen exchanges and cooperation between China, France and Africa in higher education and actively promote mutual appreciation and learning among the three in horticulture and other disciplines.
In the keynote presentation session, Prof. Marie-Therese Marie-Thérèse Esquerré-Tugayé, academician of the French Academy of Agriculture, introduced the research progress in plant resistance. She said that the main purpose in enhancing plant resistance is to reduce pesticides, and explained the single gene (ZAR1) and multi-gene regulation networks of plant resistance. She also said the research explored symbiotic mechanism of legumes and their root nodules, and proved intercropping was a necessary means to improve plant disease resistance.
Prof. Guillaume Nyagatare from University of Rwanda talked about the importance of agriculture and horticulture in Rwanda. He pointed out that agriculture accounts for 33% of Rwanda’s GDP with tea and coffee as the major exports, and plantains, cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and beans are the most productive crops. Additionally, he said that University of Rwanda looked forward to exchanges and cooperation with other countries in horticultural product processing, agricultural mechanization, and the establishment of horticultural innovation centers. Prof. Ye Zhibiao in HZAU introduced the research progress of Chinese vegetables from genomics research, gene editing technology and molecular breeding technology.
The photos of Participants online (Photo/Zheng Huan)
In the second stage, horticultural scholars from Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and other African countries as well as China discussed the research progress of horticultural plant production and carried out exchanges in horticultural science and technology innovation, horticultural plant nutrition, quality control of horticultural plants, and disease prevention and control of horticultural plant.
As a sub-forum of “the Fourth Forum of China-France-Africa Higher Education”, this forum was held by the College of Horticulture & Forestry Sciences and the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges in HZAU, aiming to promote the exchange and cooperation among China, France and Africa in horticulture, meet the development needs of the international horticulture industry, and build an international cooperation platform for academic exchange and talent training in horticulture research among China, France, Africa and other countries.
Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2022/1203/65288.shtml
Translated by: Wang Yuxuan
Supervised by: Xie Lujie
