Strengthening science and technology transfer in China for ELMD

Majority of the farmers in China have small land holdings and educating a large number of farmers with low educational level is a great challenge. The International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) worked with many of these farmers on fertilizer researches and technology transfer. The research focused on soil testing and fertilizer recommendation, soil fertility monitoring and evaluation, high yield and high quality crop production, improvement of fertilizer use efficiency, fertilization with plant health, fertilization and environment, information technology use in soil and fertilizer management (Site specific nutrient management), etc. The cooperation net work has conducted over 4000 research trials for all major soil types with more than 100 crops. Over the years, more than 360,000 people benefited from the 5000 field demonstrations with more than 260 harvest field days organized, over 800 papers were published and 180 video were developed and used by CCTV/local TV.

Soil Testing and Balanced Fertilizer Recommendations: To improve balanced fertilization, a soil testing procedure and a computerized soil testing and fertilizer recommendation system known as the Systematic Approach for Soil Testing and Fertilizer Recommendation Program were developed. In 2005, the soil testing laboratory developed by Dr. Jin and his group was named the National Lab for Soil Testing and Fertilizer Recommendation, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the techniques developed are widely used by government supported soil testing programs and various companies in the fertilizer industry.

“Seeing is believing”- Field Demonstrations : Each year, the cooperative group conducts about 200 to 300 field demonstrations throughout China. Based on these field demonstration plots, many field visits, on-site farmers’ meetings, field inspections for local leaders and technicians, crop harvest field days, etc. were organized. Some of the activities attracted over 2,000 to 3,000 people to participate and to learn. All of these activities were jointly organized with the local government as part of the technology training program to help farmers achieve sustained increases in crop production.

Special publications: The special Chinese language publication called “Better Crops China” (BCC) is one of the many publications used for knowledge transfer in China. It was initiated in 1998 with two issues per year. In each issue, Dr. Jin and his editorial group select 12 to 15 qualified technical papers focused on 1 to 2 important aspects of soil fertility management and fertilization. The publication is disseminated to local technicians (farmers’ advisors) nation-wide, providing practical techniques for improved soil fertility management and balanced fertilization. This along with other publications are available on IPNI’s English website ( http://www.ipni.net ) and on IPNI China Program’s Chinese website ( http://cclab.caas.ac.cn ).

Videos/TV Programs: The cooperative group produced over 180 video programs which were used on China Central Television Stations (CCTV) or provincial TV stations for educational purposes. One example is the 135 minute video series on Soil Fertility Management, which is divided into 9 chapters each 15 minutes in length. The videos were provided to China Central Agricultural Broadcasting School (CCABS) as educational materials to be used through the CCABS’s national educational network and the CCTV agricultural channel.

Posters: Dr. Jin and his group has developed posters of plant nutrition and balanced fertilization for 24 crops, including all grain crops and important cash crops. The posters contain information of nutrient deficiency symptoms, nutrient requirement, appropriate application ratios of N, P, K, and other nutrients, etc. For each crop-specific poster, a total of 20,000 copies were printed and distributed to local technicians, leading farmers, fertilizer distributors, and associated fertilizer industries. The posters are also available at http://www.ipni.net and http://cclab.caas.ac.cn .

Web-based technology transfer: All publication produced by the cooperative network, and associated information in relation to soil fertility management and balanced fertilization are available at http://cclab.caas.ac.cn .