Chinese scientists have taught local farmers in South Asian countries including Nepal, India and Sri Lanka how to grow mushrooms that are suitable in forested areas and shady places.
The program, which has been carried out by a team led by Xu Jianchu, a researcher from the Kunming Institute of Botany under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), with support from the China-South Asia Technology Transfer Center since 2018 has helped increase revenue and restore biodiversity.
Xu shared the story at the fourth China-South Asia Collaborative Technology Transfer and Innovation Forum underway in Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
The program is an example of the increasingly strong collaborative technology transfer and innovation between China and South Asian countries in recent years.
Dhanushka Wanasinghe from Sri Lanka also participated in the project’s training. He is currently pursuing his studies at the Kunming Institute of Botany under the auspices of CAS. During his five years in Yunnan, he has traveled to more than 260 mountains to research microfungi.
“I will bring back the technology I learned here to Sri Lanka and share it with more farmers,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of China Zhang Guangjun said that since 2014, China has sponsored nearly 200 young scientists from South Asian countries to conduct short-term scientific research in China through the innovative young scientists program.
Besides, nearly 2,000 scientific researchers and management staff from South Asian countries have participated in the training courses organized by China on advanced applied technology and scientific management, Zhang said.
As friendly neighbors and development partners, China and South Asian countries are seeing closer cooperation and reaping more and more fruitful results in technological innovation.
Nepal’s Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ashok Kumar Rai commended China’s efforts to deepen science and technology cooperation (IPTEK) with South Asian countries, which will learn and benefit from China’s achievements and experience in science and technology development, he said.
Many Nepalese students are studying in China in various majors such as medicine, engineering and information technology, said Rai, adding that he hopes the two sides can strengthen academic research cooperation in the fields of railways, agriculture and communications.
The China-South Asia Technology Transfer Center, established in Yunnan in June 2014, has established branches or cooperation centers in six countries in South Asia. The center has conducted more than 30 technology cooperation activities, promoting massive regional collaborative technology transfer and innovation.
Source : Antara News
