Following President Xi Jinping's state visit to Brazil, China's Minister of Education, Huai Jinpeng, visited the University of Brasilia to launch the Brazil-China Center for Research, Development, and Promotion of Technology and Mechanization for Family Farming.
Jinpeng participated in the "Brazil-China Forum: Milestones for a New Phase of Cooperation for Shared Development," organized by the University of Brasilia and the Taihe Institute of China and sponsored by the Banco do Brasil Foundation (FBB, in Portuguese).
The event also officially welcomed the 70 pieces of Chinese machinery and equipment destined for the University of Brasilia's Água Limpa Farm and agrarian reform settlements in the Federal District.
"We hope that, under the guidance of the two heads of state, Lula and Xi Jinping, education in China and Brazil will become a pioneer, a model, and a leader in the development of both countries, creating a new chapter 'across mountains and seas,'" said the minister, referencing The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shan Hai Jing), a metaphor for an ideal multicultural society used to describe distant places.
This week, the Brazil-China Center for Family Farming inaugurated another project: the Technological and Scientific Residencies, which promotes student exchanges between the two countries.
On the Brazilian side, Chinese postgraduate students will attend technical training schools run by the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST), such as the Latin American School of Agroecology and the Technical Institute for Training and Research in Agrarian Reform.
Students from China will also visit Apodi to participate in the CH-BR Demonstration Unit of Agricultural Machinery for Family Farming.
On the Chinese side, post-doctoral scholarships will be awarded for undergraduate and sandwich doctoral studies at China Agriculture University.
The partnership also includes installing a big data center. This center will optimize and adapt the machines to Brazilian territory, "particularly in the settlements where they will later be used, fostering social mobility and food production in Family Farming," said the newly appointed head of the University of Brasilia, Rozana Naves.
"The data will provide new research opportunities for the university's professors and students," she added.
From left to right, University of Brasilia Vice-Head Márcio Muniz; University of Brasilia Head Rozana Naves; Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng; and Chinese Ambassador to Brazil, Zhu Qinqiao / Mauro Ramos
"Initially, we will use the system to monitor agricultural machinery equipped with chips," explained Sérgio Sauer, the Brazil-China Center for Family Farming coordinator.
"We'll be able to collect information on efficiency, usage time, etc. Another function is monitoring climate data such as soil moisture and rainfall, aiding production planning. This will be a crucial input for research and innovation," said Sauer, an Environment and Rural Development postgraduate program professor.
The Vice-Chancellor of China Agriculture University, Du Taisheng, believes the cooperation has great potential and extends beyond technical mechanics. "We also need to involve more disciplines and faculties in talent training and exchanges, especially in sociology and humanities."
Taisheng explains that talent training and scientific and technological innovation aim to solve scientific and technological problems in small-scale farming.The vice-chancellor adds that reducing poverty alleviates hunger and supports the pursuit of shared prosperity.
During the meeting, China's Minister of Education praised the MST for fostering partnerships between Brazil and China in family farming.
"What you have done is a great contribution to this partnership," said Huai Jinpeng. João Pedro Stedile, from MST leadership, replied, "I'm one of the hundreds. We learned from Mao: If you don't do it collectively, you won't succeed."
China's Education Minister greets MST national leader João Pedro Stedile at the University of Brasilia / Mauro Ramos
Edited by: Felipe Mendes
