On July 16, Dominican trainees in a class on rice and other crop production visited Changde City and gained insight into mechanized harvesting of early rice at Zhufeng Town in the West Dongting Lake Management Area. The head of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic joined the observation team. Seeing more than ten harvesters working together, she exclaimed, “Muy bien!”
 
On July 8, a training class on rice and other crop production for Dominican trainees opened in Changsha. The training class was sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and hosted by Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co., Ltd. In a bid to promote agricultural cooperation and exchanges between China and the Dominican Republic, 22 Dominican agricultural specialists conducted a field visit to a rice planting demonstration base at the West Dongting Lake Management Area.

An official staff-member of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic admires the work efficiency of the harvesters.

Farmers skillfully operated harvesters at the rice planting demonstration base.

An expert of the Dominican Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Research observed a harvester which was loading unhusked rice by the road, inquiring about the configuration and work efficiency of harvesters with the help of an interpreter. 

"The wheeled combine harvester, which is the latest model, can accelerate at a constant rate. The machine can harvest rice at 12 mu (0.8 hectares) of rice fields per hour, maintaining 啊 loss ratio of no more than 2%," said Hu Deming, a farm equipment operator. Hu added that the machine's operation route can be checked on a mobile phone after scanning the machine's WeChat QR code and the harvested area can be calculated automatically. 

Dominican agricultural experts exchange views on rice yields. 

Zhao Yansen, director of the Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the West Dongting Lake Management Area, briefed the visitors on grain production. This year the Management Area's annual grain planting area is set at 75,000 mu (5,000 hectares), including 16,000 mu (about 1,066 hectares) of early rice fields. A total of 12,000 mu (800 hectares) of early rice fields realized centralized rice seedling raising and 90% achieved mechanization. Currently the Management Area boasts nearly 2,000 agricultural machines such as rotary cultivators, rice transplanters, and harvesters.

Farmer An Zhong shared how to cultivate quality hybrid rice varieties, including his experience in centralized rice seedling management, ratoon rice cultivation, control of pests and diseases, the use of agricultural machinery equipment.

The head of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic engages with An Zhong on how to use farm equipment.  

The trainees said that China has a long rice culture, rich experience in rice planting, and advanced planting technology. They expressed the hope that they can take the visit as an opportunity to strengthen cooperation. They also hoped that their country's rice planting would achieve better results by drawing on as much rice planting experience as possible from China.

In June last year, Chinese agricultural experts went to the Dominican Republic and promoted hybrid rice planting technology there. Thanks to these efforts, the yield of local rice varieties in Dominican Republic increased by about 20 percent. "We want to bring China's rice planting technology back to our hometown!" said the head of the Department of International Cooperation, adding that she will share Hunan's hybrid rice planting experience and technology with major Dominican grain growers to further improve the level of grain production in the Dominican Republic.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: Voice of Hunan