Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University

Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University is located in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province. It is a provincial key university with strengths and distinctive characteristics in agricultural and forestry sciences and life sciences, and coordinated development across multiple disciplines. It is jointly supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Fujian Provincial People’s Government, and by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the provincial government. It participates in Fujian’s high-level university and first-class university development initiatives and is a Class A university in the province’s Double First-Class initiative.

A long educational history. Its predecessors were the agriculture division of Fukien Christian University, established in 1936, and Fujian Provincial Agricultural College, founded in 1940. The former opened a new era in Fujian’s higher agricultural and forestry education, while the latter was one of southern China’s earliest independently established institutions in these fields. In 1952, these two traditions came together as Fujian Agricultural College. In autumn 1958, Fujian Forestry College was established around its Department of Forestry. In 1994, Fujian Agricultural College was renamed Fujian Agricultural University. In October 2000, with personal planning and support from then Fujian Governor Xi Jinping, the former Fujian Agricultural University and Fujian Forestry College merged to establish Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. Xi attended the founding ceremony, personally presented the university plaque and delivered an important speech. He expressed the hope that it would further free its thinking, deepen reform, and join the leading comparable universities nationwide in scale, quality, educational standards, overall strength and effectiveness, becoming “a base for cultivating innovative talent, a research base for knowledge innovation, a base for breakthroughs in key technologies, and an incubation base for high-tech industries.” For more than 20 years, the university has upheld its tradition of “researching advanced agricultural scholarship and developing specialist talent” and its motto, “Virtue, Sincerity and Wisdom, Broad Learning and Innovation.” Keeping that guidance in mind, it has rooted itself in Fujian and worked in agriculture, rural areas and farmers’ affairs. Sustained efforts have produced substantial achievements in educating high-quality agricultural and forestry talent, conducting high-level research and providing effective social services. It has achieved a historic transformation from a single-field to a multidisciplinary university and from a local provincial institution to a leading university among comparable institutions nationwide, pioneering a path of substantive, rapid development for local agricultural and forestry universities. On September 20, 2025, General Secretary Xi Jinping replied to all its faculty and students. He wrote that 25 years earlier he had witnessed the merger that formed the university and had followed its development ever since. He was pleased to learn of its progress in disciplines, technological breakthroughs, talent development and industrial incubation. He emphasized his hope that it would continue working deeply in agriculture, rural areas and farmers’ affairs, draw on its distinctive strengths, improve educational and governance standards, cultivate more high-quality agricultural and forestry talent, and bring more good technologies to the fields, contributing more to rural revitalization and a strong agricultural nation. The letter reflected his care for the faculty, students and university development, providing powerful momentum, direction and fundamental guidance for serving Chinese modernization and building a national Double First-Class university with distinctive agricultural and forestry strengths.

Distinctive disciplines. The university offers doctoral degrees in 12 first-level disciplines and 4 professional categories, and master’s degrees in 28 first-level disciplines and 22 professional categories, covering 10 categories: science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, economics, law, literature, management, the arts and interdisciplinary studies. It follows an integrated five-part development strategy covering disciplines, talent, platforms and bases, internationalization, and digitalization. It has a “one body, two wings” disciplinary structure, centered on agriculture and forestry and supported by distinctive engineering and humanities and social sciences. Its educational characteristics combine strong agricultural, forestry and life sciences with integration between agriculture and engineering, science, humanities and medicine. Core agricultural and forestry disciplines such as plant protection and forestry, and the basic discipline of biology, have significant strengths, overall capabilities and influence. Ten subject areas rank in the global ESI top 1%, including plant and animal science and agricultural sciences in the top 1 per thousand, placing it first among China’s agricultural and forestry universities outside Projects 985 and 211. In recent years, it has strengthened interdisciplinary integration and developed emerging fields such as biological breeding, smart agriculture, biomedicine and green foods. It has added 8 independently established second-level disciplines outside the national catalog, including agricultural artificial intelligence, and 5 interdisciplinary disciplines, including agricultural and forestry big data science and engineering.

Notable educational outcomes. The university has 23 schools and 1 independent college, Jinshan College. It has more than 38000 students, including over 27000 undergraduates and more than 11000 postgraduates, with a further 12000-plus students at Jinshan College. Its 82 undergraduate admission programs include 46 national or provincial first-class undergraduate program development sites and 9 programs with national engineering education accreditation. In recent years, it has used digital, biological and engineering technologies to advance New Agricultural Sciences. It has established 7 new schools: Future Technology, Rural Revitalization, Marine Studies, Digital Economy, Juncao and Ecology (Carbon Neutrality), Apiculture and Biomedicine, and the Joint College with Dalhousie University. It has added 17 programs under the Four New Disciplines initiative, including smart agriculture. It has 2 national experimental teaching demonstration centers and 2 Ministry of Education virtual teaching and research offices and has developed 300 national or provincial first-class undergraduate courses. It has won the Winning Cup seven times in Challenge Cup and Creating Youth competitions and was selected among the Ministry of Education’s first top 50 universities for innovation and entrepreneurship, the first national innovation and entrepreneurship schools, and national university practice-based innovation and entrepreneurship education bases. Guided by a culture of educating practical achievers, it combines teaching and research with productive work and social practice, cultivating high-quality agricultural and forestry talent with sound foundations, a practical approach to work, a straightforward character and a grounded work ethic. Over more than 80 years, it has educated more than 300000 outstanding graduates for the country and society. Graduates are rooted across Fujian and present throughout China and abroad. Many have become leaders of grassroots organizations and key figures in agriculture-related industries, earning broad praise for their well-rounded qualities.

A strong faculty. Pursuing a strategy of strengthening the university through talent, it implements the Double Hundred Plan for recruiting one hundred people and advancing one hundred people’s careers, building a talent center in agriculture and forestry. It has 681 full-time high-level professionals recognized at provincial level or above, with 1109 selections counting repeat honors, including 91 national-level talents with 185 selections, placing it among the leaders at Fujian’s provincial universities. Its national high-level talent includes 2 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, 3 State Council discipline evaluation group members, 5 members of national professional postgraduate education steering committees, 14 Ministry of Education Changjiang Scholars, 12 National Distinguished Young Scholars, 18 Ten Thousand Talents Program participants, 16 National Excellent Young Scholars, 8 nationally recognized young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contributions, and 13 national Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project participants. It has 2 national teaching teams, 3 national Huang Danian-style university teacher teams, 1 Ministry of Education innovation team, 2 innovation teams under the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Innovative Talent Promotion Program, 2 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs innovation teams, and 3 National Forestry and Grassland Administration science and technology innovation teams. It is a national demonstration base for innovative talent development. One school has been named a National Advanced Collective in the Education System, and 2 bases were selected for the national Higher Education Discipline Innovation and Overseas Expertise Introduction Program. Its distinguished members include delegates to the Party’s 19th and 20th National Congresses, National People’s Congress deputies, annual Touching China honorees, National Most Beautiful Teachers, National Model Teachers, National Outstanding Teachers, National March 8th Red-Banner Pacesetters and Fujian Role Models.

Outstanding research achievements. The university follows the Four Orientations and organizes research around national strategies and regional development needs. It has distinctive, leading strengths in basic research on plant viruses, crop genomes, rice, sugarcane, Chinese fir, tea, orchids, bees, edible fungi and large yellow croaker, and in applied research on Juncao, agricultural and forestry biosecurity, ecological management, biomass utilization, marine food processing and collective forest tenure reform. It has 8 national innovation platforms, including the National Key Laboratory of Agricultural and Forestry Biosecurity, National Key Laboratory of Marine Aquaculture Biological Breeding, National Engineering Research Center for Juncao Technology and National Engineering Research Center for Sugarcane, as well as 45 ministerial innovation platforms. It developed the Haixia Institute of Science and Technology as a high-standard special talent zone, with nine research centers in genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, root biology, plant immunity, synthetic biology, genetic improvement, agricultural artificial intelligence, and agricultural and forestry big data. Its 39 research teams have achieved notable development results, leading Guangming Daily to call it the campus “Silicon Valley.” The university’s science and technology innovation capabilities are among the best at Fujian universities and Chinese agricultural and forestry universities. It has received 35 awards across the three major national science and technology award categories, including a first prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Awards. It has produced landmark crop genome research, decoding the genomes of sugarcane, longan, pineapple, cultivated tetraploid peanut, orchids, water lilies, Phoebe bournei, Saccharum arundinaceum, papaya, Fuzhou single- and double-petaled jasmine, and hexaploid Dendrocalamus latiflorus. It works at the global frontier in basic fields such as plant science and has published 19 high-level research papers in Science, Nature and Cell as the lead or corresponding author’s institution.

Outstanding service contributions. The university invented Juncao technology, now used in 107 countries and regions worldwide. It has become an important example of Fujian’s and China’s overseas agricultural technology assistance and made major contributions to global poverty reduction. In September 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping personally sent a congratulatory letter to the forum marking the 20th anniversary of Juncao assistance and international cooperation for sustainable development. The university builds a social service model closely integrating industry, universities and research, specializing in services for distinctive county-level industrial chains. With local governments, it has jointly established 13 industrial research institutes and 9 county rural revitalization research institutes. It has 75 Science and Technology Backyards in 51 counties across the province, accounting for 87.2% of the provincial total, supporting Fujian’s modern agriculture and comprehensive rural revitalization. New varieties and practical technologies it has developed in sugarcane, jute, Chinese fir, sweet potato, peanut, tea, vegetables and flowers are used across China’s main producing regions. It led the formulation of 2 international standards, for oolong tea and white tea, marking a major breakthrough in international standardization of Chinese tea products. It continues to strengthen its science and technology commissioner work. Over the past 5 years, it has dispatched more than 2000 commissioners and over 600 teams, the highest numbers among Fujian universities. Its Leading Goose project for developing rural industry revitalization leaders has trained more than 1200 participants. It has established a reputation in paired assistance and poverty alleviation, serving more than ten provinces and regions including Ningxia and Gansu. Its technological support has produced notable results in controlling soil erosion in Changting and in paired poverty assistance such as the Four Ones forestry and grassland project in Guyuan through Fujian-Ningxia cooperation. Faculty and student cases supporting rural revitalization and global poverty reduction have been selected 4 times among UN global best poverty reduction cases and twice among the Ministry of Education’s exemplary targeted assistance projects at provincial universities.

Active international and external cooperation. The university is a Ministry of Education-approved host institution for Chinese Government Scholarship international students, with more than 160 students from 40 countries pursuing degrees. It jointly operates a Confucius Institute with Durban University of Technology in South Africa, which has educated more than ten thousand learners, been named a Global Advanced Confucius Institute and received approval to develop into a Global Model Confucius Institute. In August 2023, President Xi Jinping replied to its faculty and students, affirming the institute’s achievements on its tenth anniversary. The university has partnerships with more than 100 institutions in over 30 countries and regions worldwide. It has 1 Chinese-foreign cooperative institution without independent legal-person status, the Joint College with Dalhousie University, and 5 cooperative education programs. It operates more than 20 joint student training and exchange programs with prominent overseas universities. It pilots new paths for integrated agricultural science and education between Fujian and Taiwan, pioneered separate admission for Taiwan students, and jointly offers 5 “4+0” Fujian-Taiwan cooperative programs with prominent Taiwan universities. It has jointly established 22 science and technology innovation platforms with Taiwan universities and research institutions. For consecutive years, it has offered correspondence education to members of Taiwan agricultural industry associations, alongside full-time undergraduate, master’s and doctoral education for Taiwan students.

The university has Fuzhou Cangshan, Fuzhou University Town, Quanzhou Anxi and Nanping campuses. Total campus area exceeds 4900 mu, with a further 200-plus mu of science and education bases and more than 55000 mu of teaching forests. Another 2000 mu are planned for development at Nanping campus. The library holds 3.55 million printed volumes, including bound periodicals, and 3.43 million electronic volumes, including electronic journals. It has been named a National Civilized Unit for three consecutive rounds and a National Civilized Campus for two consecutive rounds. Jinshan campus lies amid hills and water, with flourishing plants and shimmering scenery. A successful example of integrating a campus and botanical garden, it is regarded by many internet users as one of China’s most beautiful universities. Its advanced, comprehensive teaching, research and living facilities and rich academic and cultural atmosphere make it an ideal place for students to learn and develop.

On its new journey in the new era, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University will take fostering virtue through education as its foundation and strengthening and developing agriculture as its responsibility. It will deepen substantive development, focus on reform and innovation, advance high-quality development across all areas, cultivate more new talent who understand and care about agriculture, and produce more advanced agricultural technologies. It will accelerate development into a nationally first-class university with distinctive agricultural and forestry strengths and work to become “a base for cultivating innovative talent, a research base for knowledge innovation, a base for breakthroughs in key technologies, and an incubation base for high-tech industries.” It will make new and greater contributions to agricultural and rural modernization, a strong agricultural nation, and Fujian’s chapter in Chinese modernization.