China to play key role in Africa food security with agric tech

NAIROBI. – China, which has been successful feeding its 1.4 billion people and lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty, is expected to play a key role in helping Africa address food insecurity by engaging in intensified bilateral cooperation in agricultural technology and talent cultivation, a Kenyan professor has said.

Speaking ahead of China’s annual two 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, convene in Beijing — this year, Prof Robert Gituru, the African director of the Sino-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 that Africa faces and has solutions that are tailored to the continent’s situation.

Gituru said China manufactures affordable small-scale agricultural machinery and tools that are helping Africa improve its crop yields. The country also quickly lifted a large number of its people out of poverty, an experience that could benefit the continent.

“Africa has comparatively a large amount 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 realize food security,” Gituru said.

A wide range of issues, including agriculture and food security, are being discussed during the two sessions. Many African people expect new momentum to be injected into the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a major platform for Sino-Africa cooperation, as a result of the discussions.

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

The centre also used a Chinese-made handheld planter that saves labor, makes straight rows while plowing and does planting, seeding and field fertilization. Local farmers have shown keen interest in the device.

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

Notably, China is demonstrating how to grow value-added crops such as grapes, kiwi fruit and foxtail millet in Africa,.

The professor said in addition to producing small-scale agricultural machines