By Abdullahi Lukman
China has received international recognition for its contributions to food security through ecological restoration, agricultural technology and international cooperation, following two awards presented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome on October 15 and 16, 2026.
Chinese desertification-control pioneer Yin Yuzhen was named among the FAO’s 100 Women Heroes in Agrifood Systems and Rural Development, while CropWatch, a satellite-based crop-monitoring platform developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, received the 2026 FAO Achievement Award.
The recognitions highlight China’s efforts to improve agricultural productivity, restore degraded land and strengthen the resilience of food systems amid climate change and growing global food security concerns.
Yin has spent more than four decades combating desertification in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Since planting her first tree in 1986, she has helped restore more than 70,000 mu, equivalent to approximately 4,667 hectares, of sandy land, transforming parts of the area into productive landscapes where crops and other plants can grow.
Her work received early support from American retired teacher Ronald Sakolsky, who donated $5,000 in 1999 after learning about her tree-planting efforts. The pair reunited in Inner Mongolia in August 2026, by which time the seedlings supported by his contribution had grown into more than 50,000 trees.
Yin’s achievements reflect China’s wider efforts to combat land degradation, including the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Programme, launched in 1978 to restore degraded ecosystems and improve environmental conditions across northern China.
At the World Food Day ceremony in Rome, Jordan’s Princess Basma bint Ali praised Yin’s work as an example of sustained innovation, emphasising the importance of long-term action in addressing hunger, climate-related shocks and inequality.
Beyond environmental restoration, China is also promoting digital technology to improve agricultural monitoring and production planning.
CropWatch, developed by a research team led by Wu Bingfang at the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, combines satellite imagery with climate and agricultural data to monitor crop conditions, estimate production prospects and identify risks such as drought and abnormal rainfall.
According to the research team, the cloud-based platform has supported crop monitoring in more than 40 countries and regions, while its reports have reached users in 173 countries and regions. It has also been integrated into the FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform and the Group on Earth Observations Knowledge Hub.
Wu said the award recognised more than three decades of research and development, adding that the achievement marked a new stage in the team’s work.
China is also expanding agricultural cooperation with developing countries through initiatives covering hybrid rice, water-saving irrigation, digital agriculture and climate-resilient technologies.
China’s permanent representative to the FAO, Zhang Lubiao, said the country would deepen cooperation with the organisation to support agricultural development and improve food security internationally.
Nosipho Jezile, South Africa’s permanent representative to the United Nations food and agriculture agencies, said China’s South-South cooperation programmes had helped African countries improve rice production, aquaculture, irrigation infrastructure, mechanisation and agricultural innovation. She added that the initiatives had increased output and created employment opportunities.
Meanwhile, FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero identified rising food prices as a major current threat to global food security, noting that affordability could become a greater concern than immediate shortages.
Torero also highlighted the importance of diversified imports, effective food-stock management and stable agricultural input markets in helping countries withstand natural disasters and geopolitical disruptions.
He noted that China’s urea exports were contributing to lower prices and urged major producers and importers to avoid market-distorting measures and restrictions on agricultural inputs.
The recognitions underscore the growing importance of combining environmental protection, technological innovation and international partnerships to strengthen food production, improve access to affordable food and build more resilient agricultural systems worldwide.
