A Delegation from the Republic of Hungary Visited IPNI project in Ziyang, Sichuan Province, China

On November 26, 2013, a delegation of eight people from the Republic of Hungary visited the IPNI sponsored sloping land project in Ziyang, Sichuan Province, China. The delegation, led by Mr. Hajba Tamás, the Consul-General from Consulate General of the Republic of Hungary in Chongqing, had other seven people from the Hungarian Water Cluster. The Chairman of Hungarian Water Cluster, Mr. Róbert Forintos came along.

Dr. Chaowen Lin, the IPNI project leader, Deputy Director of Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and his colleagues accompanied the delegation. He introduced the guests about the background, history and achievements of the project. “This project started in 1997 and was sponsored by Potash and Phosphorus Institute/ Potash and Phosphorus Institute of Canada (the former IPNI before 2007). The aim of the project was to combat soil and water losses from the sloping farmland using contour cash crop hedgerows and balanced fertilization. Great achievements were made in past years and highly recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture. The achievements were granted with the second award in Science and Technology Progress by the Sichuan Provincial Government in 2012. This technology was promoted to other parts of China with the similar problems and natural conditions in the past ten years, and IPNI therefore won its national-wide fame in China”, said Dr. Lin.

Mr. Hajba Tamás highly appraised the outstanding progress achieved though the cooperation between Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the International Plant Nutrition Institute. He said, “This manner of cooperation can be borrowed by Hungarian organizations such as the Hungarian Water Cluster in future”.