China-Romania Science and Technology Cooperation Conference on Protected Agriculture was held simultaneously on June 12. (PHOTO:CSTEC)

By LIN Yuchen

To deepen agricultural cooperation between China and Romania and promote China’s green technologies for protected cultivation in Romania and other Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), the China-Romania Science and Technology Cooperation Conference on Protected Agriculture was held simultaneously at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest on June 12.

Gao Xiang, director-general of China Science and Technology Exchange Center (CSTEC), remarked that after more than 40 years of rapid development, China's protected agriculture technology has made great progress and formed a complete industrial system. Thanks to this, over 25 percent of the domestic planting industry’s total output can be produced from less than 3 percent of arable land, meeting people’s fresh fruit and vegetable requirements year-round.

The conference discussed seven research projects that ranged from innovative technologies in urban agriculture to innovation and application of low-carbon and energy-saving facilities, and the environmental factors determining the quality of vegetables in controlled environment agriculture.

Yang Qichang, deputy director of the Institute of Urban Agriculture, CAAS, said against the backdrop of rapid population growth and food security issues, it was necessary to expand the arable land area and improve its efficiency. The urban vertical farm technology used in China can meet this need as it can be applied in a variety of environments, such as deserts, saline land and even outer space.

The technology can multiply the efficiency of arable land per unit from double to over 1,000 times, based on different experimental scenarios. The technology is also innovative in terms of environmental protection and energy saving, and thus has a broad development prospect.

The conference also saw management personnel and researchers from the Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on China-Romania Agricultural Cooperation awarded certificates in recognition of their contributions to China-Romania technical cooperation and the industrial development of protected agriculture.Hosted by CSTEC, this conference represents the second event of China-CEEC InnoShare 2023.