Editor's note: Xu Xiuli is a professor at the College of Humanities and Development Studies and Dean of the College of International Development and Global Agriculture, China Agricultural University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. It has been translated from Chinese and edited for brevity and clarity.

"Simple technology, big harvest" — China's locally adapted agricultural technologies are helping to strengthen food security in Tanzanian fields. "Small beans, big nutrition" — "Small and beautiful" initiatives that integrate millennia of agricultural civilization and modern dietary wisdom are starting to improve nutrition for women and children across the Global South countries. "New technologies bring new hope" — China's drones, hybrid rice, juncao (fungi and grass), and other improved crop varieties and advanced methods, along with new quality productive forces in agriculture, are driving agricultural modernization in African countries. Over the past five years, as global food security challenges have intensified and rural poverty has persisted, China has reshaped its own agricultural and rural landscape with the modernization of agricultural science and technology as the central engine. Moreover, it has charted a pragmatic development path that offers valuable reference for many developing countries.

China is transforming into a technologically empowered modern agricultural powerhouse

Having historically eradicated absolute poverty and secured basic grain self-sufficiency and absolute food security, China is advancing toward the goal of becoming a strong agricultural nation. Agricultural and rural modernization is not just about meeting the subsistence baseline of feeding 1.4 billion people, it is also the solid foundation for addressing urban-rural development imbalances and inadequacies, and supporting the country's overall modernization.

To this end, China has advanced its agenda in agriculture, rural areas, and farmers through three core pillars in the past five years. Firstly, food security has been safeguarded. China has firmly secured its red line of 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) of arable land, continued to promote high-standard farmland construction, and boosted the development of the seed industry. With a comprehensive policy framework, China's stable domestic supply has made a vital contribution to global food security. Secondly, modernization has been driven through a dual engine of technological empowerment and rural reform. China has prioritized breakthroughs in core agricultural technologies, promoting R&D and application of cutting-edge technologies in fields such as biotechnology, smart agriculture, and green production. At the same time, it has deepened rural reforms to remove barriers hindering the flow of factors between urban and rural areas, strengthen new types of agricultural enterprises and social services, and tap into the potential of rural resources. These endeavors have injected powerful endogenous momentum into agricultural modernization. Thirdly, rural vitalization is being advanced in tandem with green transformation through coordinated innovation. 

China has made it a top priority to consolidate and expand poverty alleviation achievements while effectively linking them with rural vitalization, thus building a sound mechanism to monitor and prevent a return to poverty. Meanwhile, holistic efforts are underway to boost rural development, construction, and governance, drawing on lessons from the "Thousand Villages Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" Project to build a beautiful, harmonious, livable and business friendly countryside. Simultaneously, the country has vigorously promoted green, low-carbon agricultural transitions, enhanced control of agricultural non-point source pollution, developed ecological circular agriculture, and strengthened agricultural sustainability.

China's experience and collaboration are helping global south countries to realize agriculture modernization

China's experience is not an isolated model. It is being actively shared across the Global South through a multilayered and multidimensional network of cooperation to jointly contribute to global development. At the bilateral level, through trade and economic collaboration, aid, and other channels, China has engaged in agricultural cooperation with more than 140 countries, forged stable agricultural partnerships with nearly 100 countries, set up about 180 joint laboratories or research centers, and signed over 100 cooperation agreements in agriculture (fisheries) with almost 90 countries. At the regional level, it has driven upgrades to the industrial chains for agricultural products in Africa with reliance on the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, while fostering collaboration in tropical agricultural technologies through the China-ASEAN mechanism. Meanwhile, China has also promoted innovation in food security governance under frameworks such as the SCO, the G20, APEC, and the CICA. 

At the multilateral level, China is deeply engaged with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Programme, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development to advance "South–South" and "triangular" cooperation in parallel to drive the transformation of global food and agriculture governance. Together, these mechanisms form a network for sharing experience, accurately aligning Chinese wisdom with the practical needs of developing countries. In this way, China helps these countries increase agricultural value-added, consolidate foundations for food security, and share the experience of agricultural modernization.

Collaborating to Build an inclusive global food and agriculture governance system for a sustainable future

The agriculture and food system continues to face formidable challenges, such as worsening climate change, geopolitical disruptions, and fragile supply chains. The international promotion of the Chinese approach must also overcome issues of local adaptability and sustainability. 

Looking ahead, China will continue to leverage agricultural science and technology modernization to deepen agricultural cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative. On the one hand, it will strengthen the R&D and dissemination of adaptive technologies, helping its partner countries tackle complex challenges such as low productivity, limited policy support, and climate risks. On the other hand, China will work alongside other Global South countries to build a more inclusive and resilient global food and agriculture governance system, thus facilitating agricultural investment and the transfer of green technologies. At the same time, the practical development needs of global agriculture will encourage China to cultivate a new generation of interdisciplinary experts in Country and Region Studies who are well-versed in local conditions and able to work with local people through extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, while also building the corresponding knowledge systems. It is through this historical process that the forward-looking vision of a "human community with a shared future" is being translated into tangible practices of development cooperation.