An aerial drone photo taken on Nov. 2, 2025 shows a view of the Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City in south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)
SANYA, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- In Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City in the coastal city of Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, international communication about seed breeding is commonplace.
Leveraging the policy advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port and the island province's tropical climate, Hainan is building a Nanfan "Silicon Valley," a global platform for seed industry cooperation and an experimental zone for deepening reform and opening up of the seed sector.
Against this background, an increasing number of international students and foreign agricultural researchers are coming to Hainan to learn and work.
In 2024, Felix Dapare Dakora, past president of the African Academy of Sciences, moved to the Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City and became the first full-time foreign breeding scientist there.
Working with Chinese experts, he is helping to develop soybean varieties with high nitrogen fixation, which reduces the need for nitrogen fertilizers in soybean production. He is also advancing cooperation projects under the China-Africa Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Alliance and inviting young African scientists to study in China.
China once faced food shortages, but persistent scientific and technological innovation secured food supply, he said, adding that Hainan's climate and agricultural types are similar to those in parts of Africa, and that the open, inclusive research environment and rich innovation resources in Hainan make it especially suitable for seed-industry cooperation.
With Dakora's support, Takele Weldu Gebrewahid, from Ethiopia, came to the National Nanfan Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to pursue postdoctoral studies.
His team has developed a new artificial-intelligence algorithm that uses big data and AI to accelerate the development of new varieties.
Agriculture is one of Ethiopia's economic pillars, he said, adding that China leads in agricultural production and breeding innovation, and that Ethiopia can draw on China's experience to narrow the technological gap.
Such international cooperation around seed breeding has yielded considerable results. For instance, the Sugarcane Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences has established a highly efficient genetic transformation system for sugarcane and obtained a batch of new germplasm that is high-yielding, high in sugar content, insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant. The center has also released a new framework for intelligent sugarcane breeding that promotes deep integration of traditional breeding with modern technologies.
Of the center's more than 20 researchers, five come from Pakistan.
"Pakistani researchers each bring specialized strengths and have made active contributions in different research teams," said the center's director, Que Youxiong. By applying advanced breeding technologies, researchers from both countries are pushing variety improvement to better tackle shared challenges such as crop diseases and climate change.
Collaboration extends beyond the laboratory. Batches of improved seeds from Hainan are being sent around the world.
At the Nanfan base of China National Seed Group in Sanya, hundreds of new rice varieties are thriving.
"Hainan's climate and ecology are similar to those of Southeast Asian countries," said Zhou Hua, the company's rice testing director. "Field trials here help us identify varieties with superior performance that can be exported to Southeast Asia."
Riding on Hainan's free trade port policies, China National Seed Group has exported more than 100 varieties abroad and is conducting hybrid rice trials and promotion in over 30 countries, including Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The company has also imported more than 100 tropical fruit and vegetable varieties from around the world for trial in Hainan, aiming to offer more diverse, high-quality agricultural products to the Chinese market.
Against the backdrop of mounting pressure on global food security caused by climate change, resource constraints, and geopolitical volatility, from Dec. 7 to 9, the 2025 International Forum on Agriculture Innovation and Sustainability (IFAIS) & The 2nd China-Latin America and the Caribbean Sustainable Food Innovation Forum were held at Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City.
Experts from more than 20 countries discussed topics including the protection and use of germplasm resources, foundational and technical innovations in the seed industry, and industrial applications.
Santiago Signorelli Póppolo, associate professor at Universidad de la República, Uruguay, said that China has advanced crop stress resistance technologies that Uruguay currently lacks, adding that cooperating with China will provide great support for Uruguay's agricultural development.
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