The 28th China Yangling Agricutural Hi-Tech Fair (CAF) will be held from October 22 to 26 in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the organizers announced recently.

Themed "sci-tech innovation drives rural vitalization," the fair will gather government officials, entrepreneurs and experts from related fields to the Yangling Agricultural High-tech Industrial Demonstration Zone.

The five-day event will feature 12 major activities, including a roundtable conference on the development of modern agriculture among Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states.

More than 2,100 booths have been set up, divided into four indoor sections and as many outdoor ones.

"The exhibition area has been expanded," said Shi Gaoling, deputy Party secretary of the Yangling demonstration zone at a press conference in Beijing. "New content sections will also be added."

According to the organizing committee, the fair will have online and offline sessions this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A national modern agricultural innovation and enterprise contest will also be held for the first time during the fair.

In 2020, the fair exhibited more than 9,000 new agricultural scientific and technological achievements and attracted 1.5 million online and offline participants from over 50 countries and regions.

Launched in 1994, the CAF is a government-sponsored, national 5A-level agricultural comprehensive exhibition. It is also certified by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.

CAF is the largest comprehensive agricultural exhibition in China by far, collectively displaying domestic and foreign agricultural high-tech achievements and advanced applicable technologies in every annual session.

In recent years, the number of visitors has exceeded 1.5 million annually, including more than 100,000 professional merchants. The transactions amounted to over 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion).

(With input from Xinhua)