Deputy Director General of FAO visits TRICAAS

8 October, 2024

Ms. Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, and Dr. Jingyuan Xia, Sepcial Advisro to the Director General of FAO, visited TRICAAS on October 8, 2024.

Bechdol was greeted by Prof. Jiang Renhua, Director General of the institute, and toured the experimental plantation of the institute, where she was shown TRICAAS’s innovative technologies and practices in tea plantations.

During her visit to the China Tea Science Society, Bechdol tried her hand at tea whisking, a featured tea-drinking art from the Song Dynasty of China, and made a cup of tea rich in foam. Later, she visited the labs and facilities of the institute and learned about latest research progress in sensory evaluation of tea, and biological pest prevention and control for tea plants.

Bechdol met with both officials and scientists from the institute, who introduced their work on advancing tea research, developing the tea industry and promoting tea culture. Participants in the meeting discussed important issues including projects on carbon neutrality in tea plantations, collaboration in the study of the global tea market, and TRICAAS’s participation in the One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) initiative.

Bechdol praised the institute’s commitment to tackling domestic and global challenges facing the tea industry, and expressed FAO’s support for a closer partnership with research organizations for a stronger global tea industry.