In recent years, food security issues have earned increasing attention due to climate change caused by global warming. In order to increase agricultural productivity and effectiveness while minimizing the impact on the environment, the Council of Agriculture (COA), the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center (FFTC), and the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) organized jointly the International Training Course on Smart Use of Fertilizers which was held at the Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (TDARES) from May 11 to 15 this year. The event aimed to expand the knowledge on smart use of fertilizers among Asia-Pacific countries and showcase Taiwan's latest results of advanced agricultural methods in smart fertilizer use.
　　
　　The COA explained that in order to expand its participation in international organizations, the Council worked in cooperation with FFTC and APAARI on this project. In addition to experts from Taiwan, Japan, and Korea who were invited to be keynote speakers for the course, there were also 33 participants from 17 countries in the Asia Pacific region such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Vanuatu, Vietnam, and Taiwan. The course content includes: keynote presentations, case study sessions, discussion sessions, lab practice, and field studies.
　　
　　The COA stated that this course's objectives are to advocate the importance of smart fertilizer usage and management as well as its practical methods. The course also aims to explain the benefits that smart fertilizer usage brings to crop production increase, environment sustainability, and soil and water conservation. The training program surely intensify its participants' knowledge on scientific smart fertilizer usage while promoting Taiwan's outstanding achievements in smart fertilizer usage, thus creating prospective international cooperation.