A seven-member review team composed of experts such as Zhu Youyong and Liu Zhonghua approved final acceptance for a project of the Chinese Academy of Engineering to promote the pepper industry in Huize County, Yunnan Province by technology application on August 25.

The review meeting also included more than 30 participants including project leader Zou Xuexiao and those from the Agriculture Division of CAE, Hunan Agricultural University, Hunan Vegetable Research Institute, Horticultural Research Institute of Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Huize County Government.

After researcher Dai Xiongze made a presentation of the project, the review team followed a series of procedures to examine the project and also had a full discussion of related questions.

The review experts concluded that  the project made systematic and scientific research, identified problems in the pepper industry, proposed technologies in the four aspects of floating seedlings, water-saving and high-yield cultivation, early-maturing and high-efficiency cultivation, and  significantly improved the pepper yield, disease and pest control, and product commercialization.

The project team created a technical manual on pepper cultivation, and trained more than 1,300 technicians and farmers in the county. New varieties and technologies have been used on more than 40,000 mu (about 2666 hectares) of pepper producing areas, generating more than RMB 20 million in benefits and helping more than 20,000 farmers rise from poverty.