Shanghai, China, 29 January 2018. The Regional Training on Protected Agriculture Technologies in Asian Countries, co-organized by the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Nanjing Research Institute for Agricultural Mechanization (NRIAM) of the Ministry of Agriculture of China, has ended with a vibrant closing ceremony today in Shanghai, China.

The Regional Training was a follow-up initiative under the cooperation network envisaged at the ‘Regional Workshop for Research and Academic Institutions on Establishing a Cooperation Mechanism for Human Resource Development on Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization’ co-organized by CSAM and NRIAM in April 2017.

Targeted at 10 researchers and academics coming from as many countries, the Regional Training introduced new innovations and know-how on protected agriculture in the participating countries from Asia, namely Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The programme included three insightful seminars delivered by established protected agriculture experts from China, and visits to two leading enterprises in China specialized in irrigation technologies and greenhouse cultivation. Moreover, utilizing the opportunity provided by the knowledge sharing session of the training, participants presented and discussed recent developments in protected agriculture in their home countries.

The training effectively enhanced the participants’ knowledge and research network in the field of protected agriculture and received very positive feedback from all of them. Because of the fruitful outcomes of the training, most of the participants expressed their intention to continue this network, while some of them additionally contributed very constructive suggestions for future cooperation to build upon the network.