COLOMBO, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- A China-sponsored training session centering on advanced cultivation techniques of tropical fruits kicked off Monday at the University of Ruhuna in Sri Lanka's Southern Province.
The training course on tropical fruit seedling propagation and high-efficiency production technology, co-organized by the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and the foreign affairs office of China's Hainan Province, attracted agricultural technicians, researchers, students, and fruit farmers from Southern Province.
During the three-day session, the trainees will be given lectures and field study opportunities to learn about advanced cultivation and production methods of three typical tropical fruits, namely banana, pineapple and mango.
When addressing the launch ceremony, Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka Wei Huaxiang expressed hopes that the training course will further expand exchanges and cooperation between China and Sri Lanka in the field of tropical agriculture, contribute Chinese solutions to the sustainable development of Sri Lanka's agriculture, and bring more benefits to the people of Sri Lanka.
Noting that Sri Lanka and China have a solid foundation for agricultural cooperation, W.L.O. Manel, an agricultural official of Southern Province, said that the training course will mark the beginning of broader prospects for agricultural cooperation between the two countries in the future.
Tropical fruits farming has been a prominent sector in China-Sri Lanka agricultural cooperation. Previously, from April 2023 to September 2025, Chinese experts participated in the China-FAO Sri Lanka South-South Cooperation Project, where they introduced farming practices such as fruit bagging and precise drip irrigation to local farmers across 10 demonstration sites.
The project boosted banana output by 70 percent and mango yield by over 50 percent, while cutting fertilizer use by 72 percent.■
