At a recent meeting held at China’s Southwest University, representatives from 11 ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) nations, including China and Pakistan, joined worldwide institutions, businesses, and organizations to start an international network on the potato sector.

According to Prof. Lyu Dianqiu, dean of Southwest University’s College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, the ‘Belt and Road’ potato network is a collaborative initiative headed by the university that aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of the potato industry in BRI nations through multilevel cooperation, including academic exchanges, collaborative research, and technology transfer.

According to Prof. Lyu, the innovation institute would specifically act as a platform to support research, encourage improvements in potato breeding, germplasm development, and exploitation, and build demonstration bases for potato farming.

The potato specialist pointed out that the breeding-oriented collaboration is the result of a thorough investigation into the difficulties and opportunities facing the potato business in the BRI nations.

“We found BRI countries such as Pakistan and Kazakhstan are plagued by a lack of quality potato seeds. As a token of support, each country was gifted 100 sets of germplasm rapid diagnostic kits at the forum,” Prof. Lyu declared, cited by Urdupoint.

Lyu announced that training sessions would be held as a first step to teach the members about breeding.

To achieve this, he continued, the forum attendees signed a strategic cooperation agreement and unveiled a plan for the joint development and use of the ‘Belt and Road’ International Potato Germplasm Resource Bank.

“In an encouraging sign, the participating universities and enterprises have already established close ties with each other during the forum, and this serves as an inspiring start to deeper technological cooperation,” the researcher added.

The CIP-China Center for Asia and the Pacific (CCCAP), Leling Xisen Potato Industry Group Co. Ltd., and numerous other businesses, academic institutions, and research organizations, such as the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, S.Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University, and University of Lahore in Pakistan, are partners in the BRI potato network.