On January 13, 2023 the Rector of KNU Tolobek Abdyrakhmanov received the Director of the Center of the KOrea Partnership for Innovation of Agriculture, RDA (KOPIA) in Kyrgyzstan, located in the botanical garden of KNU, Mr. Kwang Sog “Peter” Chu and the Manager of the KOPIA Center technology park, Mr. Kim Hyuk San. During the meeting, the parties discussed the results of the KOPIA Center’s work in 2023 and plans for the year of 2024. Representatives of the KOPIA Center reported that the experiment on the Sol Hyan strawberry variety, brought from Korea and grown in the greenhouse of the KNU Botanical Garden is going well.

According to the Director of the botanical garden, Ulugbek Neveraev, the pepper varieties Titan Devas and Dil Meng, imported from Korea, successfully passed the experiment on the demonstration field of the botanical garden of KNU, and now their distribution throughout Kyrgyzstan is being considered. The strawberry variety Sol Hyan, grown in the greenhouse of the botanical garden, gave good results and is currently under observation.

At the end of the meeting, Tolobek Abdyrakhmanov presented Mr. Kwang Sog “Peter” Chu and Mr. Kim Hyuk San with a letter of gratitude from the National University for their great contribution to the development of partnership relations between the National University and the KOPIA Center.

It should be noted that the purpose of cooperation between KNU and the KOPIA Center is to train students of the Faculty of Biology in Korean agricultural technologies.

Brief information about the COPIA center

KOPIA is an innovative platform aimed at developing cooperation between partners and donors and the effective use of agricultural technologies in the Kyrgyz Republic. Its centers operate in 23 countries: 8 in Asia, 7 in Africa, 6 in Latin America and 2 in the CIS.

The center was opened on August 17, 2021.

Areas of cooperation of the center are as follows:

• livestock farming

• growing crops

• growing seeds adapted to local climatic conditions

Objectives of the center:

• increase labor productivity and incomes of local farmers through the introduction of modern agricultural technologies

• identify the best ways to use agricultural technologies through pilot projects

• widely disseminate the results of long-term pilot projects to improve the productivity and income of local farmers, and invite donors to evaluate future results.

Current projects of the center:

The COPIA Center works closely with government and scientific institutions in the field of livestock and agriculture, paying special attention to:

• conducting training for farmers with the aim of introducing agricultural technologies for the development of the agro-industrial complex of the Kyrgyz Republic;

• development of a program to improve breeding and increase livestock productivity in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Project 1: “Expanding the use of biotechnological methods to improve the breeding stock of cattle in the Kyrgyz Republic”

Project 2: “Selection of productive feed and creation of a seed production site in Kyrgyzstan”

Project 3: “Creation of technology for processing apples and other fruits and vegetables of small farms in the Kyrgyz Republic”

The KOPIA Center is also developing the Technology Park demonstration field.