‘Creative Agriculture’ seen at Shouguang International Vegetable Fair
The 15th Shouguang International Vegetable Sci-tech Fair that just concluded saw more than a million visitors from over 15 countries and 27 domestic provinces, transacting trade to the tune of 16 billion yuan. Spread over a sprawling 450,000 square meters exhibition area, with l0 exhibition halls, vegetable greenhouses and a vegetables picking park, as many as 2000 indoor and outdoor booths displayed aesthetically laid out vegetables, fruits, seeds and bye products in ways that were imaginative and technologically savvy.
The India China Alliance for Cooperation, took a ministerial delegation from Northeast India to Beijing, Shanghai and Shouguang, visiting bio farms, organic gardens, seed factories, natural salt producing sites and the Shouguang Vegetable Fair. Local products and new vegetable varieties produced with the help of the latest agro technologies were a veritable visual delight. The town which is clearly the vegetable and fruit basket of the country has practically every household engaged in farming, maximising yields through green houses and numerous techniques that ensure optimum produce. The town also grows hundreds of Southern fruit trees, marketing pot fruit trees and desert plants in abundance. With strong government support and assistance, farmers and entrepreneurs use the opportunity of the international fair to put their best foot forward, expanding their scope and spread every year.
The terms ‘creative agriculture’, ‘facility agriculture’ and ‘leisure and tourism agriculture’ have been bestowed on the Shouguang fair, which brings together elements of ecological agriculture, scientific research, promotion, leisure and entertainment . Along with a vast range of vegetables like gourd, bitter guard, peppers, chillies and tomatoes, are new varieties of breeding, irrigation and fertilising systems. Also on display are advanced technology soilless culture models and demonstration of plantations using hydroponics, mist cultivation, substratum cultivation, pipeline cultivation, slots cultivation, column cultivation and wall cultivation.
Most of the exhibition areas are controlled by computers for irrigation and fertilising. Corridors and pathways created in the walk-throughs, see vegetables flourishing under artificial circumstances using automatic system, remote computer control and robots with full range management from plantation to harvest, as well as tidal cultivation, mist cultivation and biogas recycling.
A complete hall devoted to ‘vegetable sightseeing spots’ that recreate mythical creatures from Chinese folklore are spread over 10,000 square meters with "Beautiful China", "Playing Dragons, Horse Spirit, Laughing Buddha, the Singing Phoenix” being created out of seeds and other veggies. The fair almost has an interactive feel with flowers and vegetables in all shapes and sizes interspersed with figures and animal creations peering at you from trees, shrubs, ceilings and in potted creations, terraced gardens and layered piped plantations. They exude humour, wit and artistry just as much as they make a statement for technology. It is almost like being part of a vegetable cultural heritage of China’s leading vegetable township.
ICAC organises agri tours every year. The Shouguang Fair is organised by Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce, Science and Technology and Environmental Protection P.R. China along with China State Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Administration China Council for Promotion of International Trade, All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, State Standardisation Commission and China Science and Technology Association.
