From 8 to 9 April, DCZ expert Eva Sternfeld visited the village of Wangjinzhuang, Shexian County, Hebei Province. She was accompanied by representatives of Farmers’ Seed Network and Oxfam HK. Famous for its dryland stone terrace system, Wangjinzhuang is recognized as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Site (GIAHS) by FAO.
Terrace landscapes are the outcomes of intense human-nature interactions that enable farmers to conduct agriculture in adverse environments. These interactions produce unique ecological systems that are a reservoir of cultural and ecological diversity. It is this diversity that makes Wangjinzhuang a particularly interesting field site for the Sino-German agrobiodiversity network the DCZ is building together with experts from both countries and sponsored by a project grant from the Innovation and Transformation Dialogue (ITD) of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).
Together with representatives of the village and members of the Shexian Dryland Terrace Protection Association, Eva Sternfeld discussed an upcoming visit and workshop on agrobiodiversity that the DCZ is organizing for a delegation of German and Chinese experts. He Xianlin, founder of the association and former official of the Shexian agriculture bureau, introduced to the community’s seed bank, the dryland terrace museum, and a new experimental farm.
