The signing ceremony of a sci-tech cooperation agreement between the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences (HAAS) and the Jingzhou Municipal People's Government was held on February 18. Liu Xiaohong, Vice Chairperson of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the Hubei Provincial People's Congress, Party Secretary of HAAS and Member of the Party Leadership Group of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hubei Province, attended the ceremony and delivered a speech. Wu Jin, Secretary of the CPC Jingzhou Municipal Committee, delivered an address. Zhou Zhihong, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Jingzhou Municipal Committee and Mayor of the Jingzhou Municipal People's Government, hosted the ceremony.

Wu expressed his heartfelt thanks to HAAS for its permanent attention and support to the agricultural technology development of Jingzhou. The signing of this agreement marks a new level for HAAS-Jingzhou cooperation, will provide strong sci-tech support for Jingzhou to accelerate the establishment of a modern agricultural industry system, boost the building of Jianghan Plain Rural Rejuvenation Demonstration Area and a regional science & education innovation center, and inject strong vitality for building a provincial regional center city in central Hubei. With the signing of this agreement as a fresh start, the CPC Jingzhou Municipal Committee and the Jingzhou Municipal People's Government will further strengthen service support, talent team building and institutional innovation, and work with HASS to make Jingzhou's agriculture grow bigger and stronger, so as to make new, greater contributions to advancing the rural rejuvenation of Hubei in an all-round manner and building Hubei into a strong agricultural province.

With the signing of this agreement as an opportunity, HAAS will leverage its strengths in technologies, talents and achievements, achieve breakthroughs in 50 key agricultural technologies, integrate and demonstrate 50 advanced and practical agricultural technologies, promote 50 models for sustainable agricultural development, build 50 agricultural technology demonstration villages (towns), develop and expand 50 leading agricultural enterprises, advance the research on and demonstration of key agricultural technologies with focus on Hubei's 10 key agricultural industry chains and Jingzhou's four key agricultural industry chains, and provide all-round sci-tech support for the high-quality development of Jingzhou's agriculture, thereby boosting the agricultural modernization and rural rejuvenation of Jingzhou.

Zhou and Liu signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on behalf of the Jingzhou Municipal People's Government and HAAS respectively. The two sides will strengthen cooperation in agricultural industry chain building, agricultural sci-tech innovation platforms, sci-tech innovation and achievement transformation, rural rejuvenation strategy research and practice, and sci-tech talent exchange and training.

The Institute of Cereal Crops, Institute of Cash Crops, Institute of Plant Protection, Soils and Fertilizers, Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, and Institute of Pomology and Tea of HAAS signed cooperative agreements with six enterprises in Jingzhou. Jiao Chunhai awarded the plaque of "Model Village (Town) for Tech-Empowered Rural Rejuvenation" to Chengji Town, Jianli City and Xingou Village, Dayuan Town, Shishou City.