The 2019 (Changsha) International Rice Development Forum - China-Africa Rice Development Seminar opened in Changsha on the morning of June 27.

The opening ceremony was attended by:

-Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Sciences including Yuan Longping, Xie Hua’an, Chen Wenfu, Luo Xiwen, Zhang Hongcheng, and Zou Xuexiao;

-Wang Ren, the former assistant director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization;

-Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation;

-Pascal Gbenou, president of the West African Rice Production Association; and,

-Hunan provincial and Changsha municipal leaders Dai Daojin and Zhu Jian.

The forum will continue until June 29. During the period, rice experts from 9 African countries including Madagascar, Egypt, Mali, Kenya, Benin, Malawi, Senegal, Namibia, and Nigeria; and other countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the United States, the Dominican Republic will have discussions on “Rice Academic Research and Hybrid Rice Technology Promotion and Application in Africa".

After the opening ceremony, participants will also conduct sub-forum academic exchanges on rice industry revitalization and international cooperation; high-yield and high-efficiency of rice cultivating; rice culture innovation and development; and, exchanges among young scholars.

The forum was co-organized by the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province, the Changsha Municipal People's Government, the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Hunan Agricultural University, the China National Hybrid Rice R&D Center, the Council for International Rice Development Forum, the Crop Science Society of Hunan, and Hunan Agricultural Society. It was supported by the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the African Rice Research Institute, the Crop Science Society of China (CSSC), the China National Rice Research Insititute, and the Hunan Association for Science and Technology. (en.changsha.gov.cn)