PARIS, Feb. 28 (Xinhua Silk Road) -- On the 62nd International Agricultural Fair, the China Pavilion not only attracts visitors by its healthy, high-quality and innovative agricultural products, but also serves as a platform for professionals and experts to exchange their opinions about the trends and the future of agricultural cooperation between China and the world.
This year marks the third time that the Chinese national pavilion has made its appearance at the fair. The pavilion has showcased 100 distinctive products, including tea, health foods and agricultural drones, demonstrating China's achievements in agricultural industrialization and showing the results of China's rural revitalization.
"Agriculture is not only about land and food, but also about civilization and peace. China and France can promote peace through agricultural exchanges," noted Thomas Pavie, delegate for animal genetics and dairy sectors at FranceAgriMer, French public agency for agriculture and fisheries sectors.
In his opinion, France and China are both at the forefront of agricultural robotics and precision agriculture, he hopes that the two sides could thus strengthen their cooperation to improve efficiency, address climate change, and increase resilience to drought.
Last year, French animal genetics company SYNETICS signed a technical cooperation agreement with the Shaanxi branch of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, which includes the transfer of sex-sorted frozen semen technology for dairy goats. While visiting potential cooperation partners at the China Pavilion, Marielle Breheret, director of SYNETICS Export, revealed to the reporter more details and recent progress about this long-term cooperation.
Together with the CP Group and the local government, her team has built a laboratory, enabling frozen semen production in China. "Shaanxi is truly a China's leading goat-producing province, that is why we chose it," she said.
According to Breheret, the partnership will introduce improved genetics to help dairy goats produce more and higher-quality milk, while also enhancing longevity and fertility.
Fascinated by the delicacy of Huazhou Tangerine Peel and tea from Guangdong Province, French scholar Jean-Yves Moisseron said that the Chinese agricultural products with medicinal value should be better introduced to foreign markets and gain greater global recognition that they deserve to have. "China has a long history in traditional medicine and herbal products. Nowadays, relevant Chinese products are of very high quality, but many of them are still little known in France and Europe."
Bernard Alens Zako, a culture and heritage consultant, made his discovery of a new kind of Chinese tea. Officially made from leaves of Lithocarpus litseifolius (Hance) Chun, the tea is commonly known as "sweet tea", and its consumption has a long history in Hunan Province.
At the first sip, Zako couldn't help exclaiming to the exhibitor. "What astonishes me is the tea's sweet flavor, while it is without any sugar -- absolutely pure. It's an unusual yet delightful sensation."
The International Agricultural Fair is one of the world's leading agricultural events. This year, the fair runs from February 21 to March 1 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.
(Contributed by Li Wenxin, edited by Li Xueqing with Xinhua Silk Road, lixueqing@xinhua.org)
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