Recently, the International Workshop on Dryland Agriculture and Food Security has been held online which is hosted by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). Professor Mei Xurong, Vice President of CAAS, Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, Chief Scientist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Dr. Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Professor Michael Baum, Deputy Director General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and Dr. Charbel Tarraf, Senior Manager of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) delivered opening remarks. Professor Mei also made a keynote speech on Dryland Agriculture R&I in China: Action towards SDG 2030.

Professor Mei pointed out, around one third of the global population is relying on dryland agriculture for their lives. Dryland agriculture plays a unique role in global food security and nutrition supply. However, it is often risk prone due to resource shortages, ecosystem degradation, climate change, etc. In order to tackle these challenges, develop sustainable dryland agriculture and build a resilient dryland ecosystem, the keys hinge on S&T innovation, global cooperation and synergetic development to promote agricultural transformation. To this end, CAAS proposes strengthening partnerships in dryland agriculture, jointly building an international cooperation platform for dryland agriculture research, and collectively seeking a sustainable development path on dryland agriculture in the future. Participants also exchanged views and reached consensus on the initiatives mentioned above.

The workshop focuses on the themes of sustainable strategics of dryland agriculture for food security, biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, breeding drought tolerance varieties for water stress, etc. About 80 representatives from domestic and foreign research institutes, including FAO, ICRISAT, ICARDA, IAEA, ICBA, Peshawar University of Agriculture, Pakistan attended the meeting.

By Zhu jinjin (zhujinjin@caas.cn)