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On 29 October 2014, the final press conference for the German-Chinese Demonstration Farm in Ganhe was held in Wuhan, China.
The press conference took place during the CIAME, China’s largest international Agricultural Machinery Fair, where the German partner companies Claas, Grimme, Lemken and Rauch presented their machinery. In addition, the project was represented through a joint stand organised by AFC’s partner DLG International through the DLG office in Beijing.
Almost 300 participants from all over China had registered to attend the press conference and to learn about project results and lessons learned from six years of project experience.
The project, which was located in Inner Mongolia and financed under the Bilateral Cooperation Programme of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and which will come to an end in December 2014 after six years of implementation, demonstrated on 1,000 ha how modern agricultural techniques, adapted plant cultivation and good farm management can improve yields while at the same time conserving natural resources and saving production costs.
Representatives from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, from Daxinganling Holding, Ganhe State Farm and from the German partner companies that provided modern agricultural machinery for the project, summarised their experience with and lessons learned from the project. As a keynote speaker, our team leader, Mr. Horst Bunge, reported on the achievements of the project and highlighted the importance of the joint elaboration of strategies and ideas by Chinese and German experts to develop sustainable agriculture at the Ganhe state farm and in Northern China in general. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of training and education in the agricultural sector in China.
The importance of the project for the German-Chinese cooperation in the agricultural sector was emphasized by both, the German and the Chinese side. The demonstration project was the first of its kind under the BMEL Cooperation Programme in China and can be considered as a successful and sustainable project, especially due to the fact that it had a strong focus on practical training, which was, and still is, rather uncommon in China. Thus, all project partners agreed that in future projects, the training aspect must be further strengthened.
The Ganhe State Farm management announced that it will continue to operate the demonstration farm from 2015 on its own and will develop a service centre for machinery and plant production.
The panel discussion showed the enormous interest in improved and sustainable agricultural production that the project could demonstrate in Northern China. The conference ended with a dinner reception, giving the opportunity for further discussions.
For further information please feel free to contact:
Mrs. Zhang Li – DLG office Beijing (leely [at] dlg.org.cn)
Mrs. Tesa Weiss – AFC Bonn (tesa.weiss [at] afci.de)