South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences organized the mid-term assessment meeting of the project “Development of New Technologies for Post-harvest Quality and Quality Control of Large-scale and Characteristic Fruits and Vegetables in South China (Project Number: 2016YFD0400904)” supported by the National Key R&D Program of China in Haikou, in August 20-21, 2018.

The project is jointly undertaken by six research Institutions, including South China Botanical Garden, Huazhong Agricultural University, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhuhai Zhenlvse Technology Co., Ltd. (National Research Center of Agricultural Products Preservation and Engineering Research Center (Zhuhai)), Hainan University and Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS). The leader of each sub-project reported the main research progress, main problems, funds utilization so far and work plan for the coming years.

Prof. Qu Hongxia, who is leader of the project, chaired the meeting. The expert panel is made up of leading academics including Prof. Lu Wangjin from South China Agricultural University, Prof. Xie Jianghui, vice-president of CATAS, Prof. Jin Zhiqiang and Prof. Yi Kexian. The expert panel conducted a review on the mid-term report of each sub-project and made some valuable comments and suggestions on: (1) how to carry out system research on pre-harvest and post-harvest fruits and vegetables, and on the key issues in fruit and vegetable industry in South China; (2) how to carry out research on the law of quality loss and develop practical new technology for preservation of new and excellent fruit varieties in supply chain, and (3) how to promote the cooperation of "government, enterprises, education, research Institutes". The mid-term assessment meeting of this project will be of great significance to summarize the research achievements and to concentrate more on the key part of the research and to meet goals and objective of the project.