During 5-8 April 2026, the UNEP-IEMP team, in collaboration with China Agriculture University and Renmin University of China, conducted a training workshop on agricultural policy document collection and text mining analysis in African countries in Sanya, China. This training is part of the NSFC-UNEP collaborative project titled “Mechanisms for the Collaborative Management of Food Security and Sustainable Food System Development between China and Africa”. Its primary objectives are to enhance the research capacity of African scholars in conducting regional agricultural policy analysis, to provide technical support for the development of a cross-national agricultural policy database, and to facilitate South-South knowledge sharing. More than 30 early-career researchers and international students, from Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Zimbabwe, and Trinidad and Tobago, participated in the training. 

The venue for the training

UNEP-IEMP intends to continue collaboration with the African researchers and further engage them in subsequent text mining analysis using machine learning methods. This ongoing partnership aims to provide empirical evidence and decision-making references to support African countries in formulating more science-based agricultural policies.