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Scientists Go West to Help Farmers
Eighty agricultural experts arrived Tuesday in Hohhot in Inner Mongolia, the first stop of a month-long, 5,000-kilometre expedition to help western China adapt the latest agricultural techniques.
The expedition, launched by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, will conclude on June 24.
In addition to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the expedition will cover the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Gansu Province and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The academy expects the expedition to build 10 agricultural production centres and 10 model counties using the latest agricultural technology, said academy President Lu Feijie, the expedition's leader.
In a related project, the academy will train 100 postgraduates, 1,000 cadres and 10,000 rural households from the west, he added.
Wan Baorui, vice-minister of agriculture, said: "It is extremely important to propel agricultural development in the west.''
The underdeveloped west covers 70 percent of China with 30.4 percent of the nation's population.
The central government has made the development of western China a national priority.
The expedition is the academy's contribution to that goal.
During the expedition, the academy will conduct science and technology training, field instruction and negotiate possible co-operative projects.
"Developing the agricultural base of the west will play a very important role in the development of the entire west. That is the unshakable responsibility of the academy,'' Lu said.
"This is also a good opportunity for us to get close to and learn from the industrious local people in the west,'' he said.
The expedition's experts will share their knowledge on raising crops andlivestock with local people.
Li Xiangyi, an academy researcher and leader of the expedition's experts working on growing plants, said: "The west has its advantages and quality species. We expect to help farmers and herdsmen tap their potential.''
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