China can help Africa achieve food security

China, which has successfully fed 1.4 billion people and lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, is expected to play a key role in helping Africa combat food insecurity by engaging in intensified bilateral cooperation in agricultural technology and talent development, a Kenyan professor said. .

Speaking on the eve of China’s two annual sessions – during which its top legislative body, the National People’s Congress, and its political advisory body, the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, meet in Beijing – this year, Robert Gituru, the African director of the China-Africa Joint Research Center at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, said that as a developing country, China is more likely to understand the challenges Africa faces and has solutions tailored to the needs. the situation of the continent.

Gituru said China manufactures small-scale and affordable agricultural machinery and tools that help Africa improve its agricultural yields. The country has also quickly lifted large numbers of its population out of poverty, an experience that could benefit the continent.

“Africa has a relatively large area of ​​arable land compared to many parts of the world, including China, so if we can import the appropriate technologies from China, Africa will be able to achieve food security,” Gituru said.

A wide range of issues, including agriculture and food security, are discussed during the two sessions. Many Africans hope that the discussions will inject new impetus into the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a major platform for China-Africa cooperation, the professor said.

Gituru said such cooperation has already brought tangible results across Africa, including at its research center. Last year, the center demonstrated maize cultivation and, using appropriate agronomic techniques from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, yields increased by 50 percent, he said.

The center also used a Chinese-made portable planter that saves labor, makes straight rows during plowing and carries out planting, sowing and fertilizing fields. Local farmers have shown keen interest in this scheme.

Gituru said China is also making a machine that could help farmers produce more nutritious feed for their livestock.

China is notably showing how to grow value-added crops such as grapes, kiwi and foxtail millet in Africa, he said.

The professor said that in addition to producing small-scale agricultural machinery and tools, Chinese companies want to participate in localized fertilizer production. He believes this will be particularly beneficial because the lack of fertilizer is one of the main causes of low agricultural production in Africa.

A Chinese institute that reclaimed the Taklimakan Desert, China’s largest desert, is passing on its skills and technology to African countries through the Great Green Wall Initiative, which aims to increase the area of ​​arable land in the Sahel, the African Sahara Desert border region.

Gituru said that when African students continue their studies in China, there is usually no brain drain, as they usually return to their countries to apply what they have learned.

He said China was determined to strengthen institutionalized quarantine and inspection cooperation with Africa, urging authorities to ensure that farmers use appropriate agricultural techniques that will enable their products to access international markets. .

“We hope that China will enrich the “green channel” for agri-food products from African countries so that they can enter China and benefit from the trade promotion role of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo and “other exhibitions to increase the country’s exports of agricultural products. from Africa to China,” he said.

Gituru said that for African countries to build a strong support base, they should take advantage of the training their farmers and academicians can receive in China.

“Furthermore, we should strategize on how to benefit from the large agri-food market that exists in China by ensuring that our production methods are aligned with market needs,” he said.