The opening ceremony of the Inner Mongolia Beet Farmer Field School Counselor Training Course (TOT) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) " Support to sustainable use and management of sugar crop residues for sustainable production and natural resources conservation （TCP/CPR/3804）" was held online on May 17.

Ms. Fu Rong, project officer of the FAO Representative Office in China, and Liu Hongfang, associate researcher of the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) co-chaired the meeting.

Ms. Fu Rong, Project Officer, FAO Representative Office in China

Liu Haitao, a researcher from the International Office of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, pointed out that compared with France, Russia and other countries, China's sugar beet production efficiency is lower and the cost is higher. This training aims at the key technical shortcomings of sugar beet production in Inner Mongolia, comprehensively promotes the ecological and safe planting technology of sugar beet, and lays a practical foundation for improving the comprehensive production capacity of sugar crops and even the entire sugar industry, which is of great practical significance.

Zhang Zhongjun, assistant representative of the FAO Representative Office in China, said that the training courses for farmer field school counselors under this project are the first batch of online training courses organized and carried out by FAO in China. It is expected that the training of beet counselors in Inner Mongolia will summarize more online courses. The experience and practices of running classes further enrich the organization and training methods of farmer field schools.

Hou Yanbing, director of the Marketing and Foreign Cooperation Department of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Department of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said that the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is one of the main producing areas of beet sugar in China and the sugar supply base in North China. Inner Mongolia beet planting has problems such as extensive production, imperfect planting technology system, and lack of popularization and application of optimized technology. Implementing the sugar crop ecological safety planting and resource recycling project is a good entry point to solve the sustainable development of sugar crops in Inner Mongolia.

During the meeting, Liu Hongfang from the IARRP, Wang Xu, a technical expert in the FAO project, Xiao Qiang, a technical expert in Inner Mongolia, and Guo Rong, a training expert in the FAO project, made reports on the project overview and implementation progress, beet ecological safety planting, sugar beet production overview in Inner Mongolia, and typical cases of farmer field school participatory training.

A total of more than 70 people in charge, technical experts, representatives of project partner companies, and farmer field school counselors attended the meeting online.