In the golden month of October, a season of abundant harvests, the commemorative event marking the 40th anniversary of the International Potato Center (CIP) in China kicked off warmly at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) on October 11, 2025. Representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), CAAS, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), CIP partners, as well as experts from scientific research institutions and universities and professionals from the industry gathered together. They jointly reviewed the 40-year cooperation journey and discussed new pathways for the sustainable development of the potato industry.
With the theme “40 Years of United Endeavors, Witnessing Abundant Achievements”, this event was hosted by Xie Jianmin, Director of the CIP Asia-Pacific Center. Distinguished guests delivered speeches one after another, looking back on the cooperation achievements and envisioning the future direction. These guests included Huang Sanwen, President of CAAS; Ma Zhigang, Deputy Director of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center of MARA; Sandra Cristina Kothe Milach, Chief Scientist of CGIAR; Simon Heck, Director General of CIP; and Li Canhui, Professor of Yunnan Normal University.
Tracing back to the establishment of CIP’s liaison office in China in 1985, the cooperation between the two sides has gradually expanded from the initial introduction of germplasm resources to broad-ranging and in-depth collaboration covering variety breeding, technology promotion, talent cultivation, and industrial chain upgrading. Over the past 40 years, the cooperation has yielded fruitful results:
- The jointly developed “Cooperation 88” late blight-resistant potato variety has been promoted over an area of more than 6 million mu (approximately 400,000 hectares) in southwest China, creating an economic benefit of 2.74 to 3.83 billion US dollars for local farmers.
- The national potato late blight monitoring network established through cooperation now has more than 1,800 monitoring sites, providing a solid “disease prevention line” for 4 to 8 million mu (about 266,667 to 533,333 hectares) of potato fields each year.
- CCCAP R&D CampusPark has trained hundreds of professionals in the potato industry, serving as a crucial hub for Sino-foreign agricultural technology exchanges.
These achievements have not only taken root in China but also been shared with regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa through the South-South cooperation platform, making them a model for international agricultural cooperation.
Looking ahead, the two sides will focus on three aspects to deepen their cooperation:
- Jointly building a “Germplasm Resource Innovation Community”: Relying on the CCCAP Yanqing R&D Campus, the scale of excellent resource exchange will be expanded, and specialized varieties suitable for different ecological zones will be cultivated, enabling more “golden potatoes” to boost field production.
- Creating a “Technology Collaborative Innovation Platform”: Focusing on key fields such as biological breeding, intelligent cultivation, and deep processing, efforts will be made to promote the export of technologies like digital monitoring and precision irrigation to developing countries, supporting the global green transformation of agriculture.
- Constructing a “Whole-Industry-Chain Cooperation Ecosystem”: Leveraging China’s 80 billion US dollar potato market potential, the initiative will promote the transformation of potatoes from a “crop for food security guarantee” to a “crop for increasing income in rural revitalization” and a “nutritious crop for Healthy China”, achieving the integration of economic, social, and ecological benefits.
The holding of this commemorative event not only summarizes the 40-year cooperation achievements between CIP and China but also marks the entry of their cooperation into a new stage of high-quality development. In the future, this cross-border “friendship in the potato industry” will continue to write more brilliant chapters in safeguarding global food security and promoting the sustainable development of agriculture.