KULIĆ: THROUGH COOPERATION WITH CHINA TO FIRST SMART AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 10 /SRNA/ – The first smart agricultural technology and equipment laboratory at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Istočno Sarajevo is an important step toward modernising agriculture and opens a new chapter in cooperation with China, Rector Milan Kulić told SRNA.

The laboratory was established last year as a joint project involving Jiangsu University in China, the University of Istočno Sarajevo as coordinator, the University of Banja Luka, and universities from Serbia. Kulić recalled that representatives of the University of Istočno Sarajevo and two Chinese companies recently signed an agreement in Banja Luka on the donation of high-tech laboratory equipment. The donation includes valuable high-tech membrane equipment for water purification and the sustainable processing of agricultural products, as well as intelligent agricultural machinery and equipment. "This is an open laboratory for smart agriculture, and the Faculty of Agriculture at our university will receive extremely valuable equipment that will primarily serve students and professors, but which they will later also be able to use to generate a certain amount of revenue for the Faculty," Kulić said. He stressed that the laboratory would make the Faculty of Agriculture even more attractive to prospective students. According to Kulić, agricultural equipment - including tractors, combine harvesters, mowers and ploughs, will serve the Faculty of Agriculture, which has its own centres in Sokolac, where students will be able to gain practical experience, work and train. "Part of the equipment, relating to scientific research, will be located at the Faculty of Agriculture. All of this needs to be adapted in accordance with extremely strict regulations. Our colleagues at the Faculty of Agriculture and the dean will have a great deal of work to do, but once it is completed, it will be among the most modern facilities of its kind in this part of the region," Kulić said. He noted that in recent years the university has developed intensive cooperation with Chinese universities, thanks to the strong support and mediation of BiH Ambassador to China Siniša Berjan. The first joint laboratory for smart agricultural technology and equipment in BiH will serve as a platform for developing innovations in smart agricultural technology and equipment, with a particular focus on precision field management, intelligent agricultural machinery, unmanned farms and green processing.