Thirty-seven technicians from 18 countries are attending a training program on rainwater catchment technologies which kicked off on Monday in Lanzhou, capital of the northwestern province of Gansu.

The program, offered by the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources and financed by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, will run until Oct. 20. It will feature classroom teaching, special lectures, seminars, field surveys and practical projects.

For the convenience of foreign trainees, who came from New Zealand, Rwanda, India and other countries, training courses will offered in English and special lectures will be given in Chinese with English interpretation, according to the organizers.

Gansu, among the driest regions in China, is the most successful Chinese province in harvesting rainwater. Thanks to the past decade-long efforts, the province has built a total of 2.53 million pits or cellars to catch rainwater, providing stable sources of drinking water for 2.52 million people and helping irrigate 300,000 hectares of farmland.

David Dushimimana, a trainee from Rwanda, said the training program gave him a precious chance to learn about China's advanced rainwater catchment technologies and on his return he will use what he learns to help people in his country where little rainfall is seen all year round and where irrigated farming remains their chief way of production.

The program was sponsored by the Chinese ministries of commerce and water resources, the provincial government of Gansu and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and was carried out by the provincial water resources department, the provincial institute of water resources science and the International Rainwater Catchment System Association.

(People's Daily September 9, 2003)