Dutch Horticulture Roadshow visits China’s East Jiangsu Province

The Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Shanghai, supported by the Netherlands Business Support Office in Nanjing, organized a roadshow on 6-7 September. The aim was to promote Dutch technology in the field of protected horticulture in Jiangsu province.

Altogether 14 Dutch companies, representing all different areas in the horticulture chain, from the Netherlands or active in China participated in the Dutch Horticulture Roadshow. The event consisted of two company visits and a seminar “Sino-Dutch Sustainable Horticulture Technology”. At the seminar, Ms. Onny Jalink, Deputy Consul General, made a welcome speech, and Dr. Jouke Campen, Wageningen University and Research, delivered an impressive presentation -“Innovative and Sustainable Protected Horticulture Development – Experiences in the Netherlands and the rest of the world”. Professor Weihong Luo, College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agriculture University, highlighted “Protected Horticulture in Jiangsu Province.” Approximately 100 people from local growers, researchers, and government officials attended.

There is a great potential for the Dutch horticulture cluster in this area if tailor made solutions for the Chinese market are developed. The fact is the Nanjing (capital of Jiangsu province) area is not the best place for the glasshouses due to lower solar intensity, high temperatures and high humidity in the summer. The climate in other areas, such as Lian Yun Gang, northern part of Jiangsu province, is more conducive to the protected horticulture, according to Mr. Heng CAI, DDG of Jiangsu Provincial Agriculture Commission. All the Dutch companies were satisfied with the roadshow.

A few statements are quoted below:
“For Rabobank it is always important to meet with Dutch corporations with subsidiaries in China and Food & agriculture related Chinese corporations. All in all it was a nice trip and very interesting for Rabobank.” - Frederik van Ewijk, Associate Director International Desk, Rabobank Shanghai

“The organisation from your side was perfect. But the event was rather specific (sensors and equipment), a more general horticultural event would be more attractive for the Dutch greenhouse industry, I think.” - Jouke Campen, PhD, Wageningen University and Research

“All of the events are impressive, especially the visit to Wuxi Agriculture Park. We can see that the development of protected agriculture in Jiangsu is fast.” - Snow Wu, Area manager, Hoogendoorn Asia

Publication date: Tue 26 Sep 2017