Geographically speaking the Lazio region of Italy and Zhengzhou of China are thousands of miles apart. Nevertheless, there is a common thread linking the two places together – The pursuit of sustainability excellence through driving green agriculture hand in hand.

The tie of Lazio and Zhengzhou in this regard has become more tight starting January 31 as the two signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for jointly promoting sustainability and driving innovation in agriculture. Specifically, Lazio and Zhengzhou are going to collaborate in the areas of peri-urban agriculture, sustainable agri-food supply, urban community farming, carbon sequestration and emission reduction in agriculture, exchange programme for young talents/SMES as well as co-operation in agri-tourism.

The MOU is within the framework of EU-China Cooperation on Regional Policy which is facilitated by the China Office of EU-funded International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme.

Lazio and Zhengzhou have already been planning on a series of joint initiatives including public education activities on organic farming, joint researches and exchange programme of experts. These are poised to make a positive impact not just on the entire agri-food value chain of the latter, but also the daily life of the general public there. For instance, consumers would have more choices on healthy and organic agricultural produce in the market; Embarking on a career or even starting one’s own venture in per-urban agriculture or agri-tourism becomes viable to the ambitious young talents. More importantly, all these newly created opportunities could make contributions to upholding sustainability for the local community.                     

The Lazio region has accumulated a wealth of experiences and expertise that can be of reference to Zhengzhou for developing its peri-urban agriculture. The joint task force has already pinpointed the first batch of organisations for facilitating co-operation. These include the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Lazio and Tuscany, the Cooperative Agriculture Capodarco, the

GreenSapiens of the Sapienza University of Rome and the Henan Zhongyuan Organic Agriculture Institute.

This co-operation programme has received the big support from both the Lazio and Zhengzhou governments.