Upliftment Through Technology
Agricultural expert helps diversify food supplies in Burundi using modern techniques
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, many Chinese stayed in Africa to continue their work there. Their missions have been extended beyond their preset terms due to the ongoing pandemic. Thanks to their efforts, many China-africa cooperation projects in the continent have moved on. Hu Shuangquan, an agricultural expert on an assistance mission to Burundi, is one of them. With expertise in agricultural machinery, the 51-year-old technician from an agricultural technology center in Hubei Province in central China was sent to promote technology for the processing and storage of agricultural products. His two-year mission was to end in March 2020, but he was unable to return to China at that time because of the flight restrictions put in place to control the pandemic. He later volunteered to stay on in the country.
Now, he has been away from his family for four consecutive years. But he doesn’t regret it, because his work is meaningful in a country where most of the families are able to have only two meals a day due to insufficient agricultural output. “Born in the 1970s, I experienced poverty and food shortage myself. I feel obliged to help given the difficulties people are facing here,” he told Chinafrica.
Uninterrupted operation
One serious challenge for Hu and other experts is to do their work while protecting themselves from COVID-19. The risk can’t be overlooked considering limited medical resources and weak prevention and control measures in the country. However, the team has managed to keep the projects moving as scheduled. Each month, they travel for work or visit the fields for technical guidance for more than 20 days, and none of the team members has been infected since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Hu attributed this to the strict prevention measures they follow. At the demonstration center in Bubanza Province where they live, they demand all the staff including local employees to follow anti-epidemic procedures, which include washing hands frequently,
wearing masks and maintaining social distance. When they travel, they drive and stay in hotel rooms with better sanitation conditions and have their meals delivered to the room.
Hu has continued to perform his routine duties, which include imparting knowledge about various rice processing techniques, providing training to local technicians, advising local authorities on agricultural development, and processing and promoting rice seeds. However, his activities are never confined to his area of specialty. In collaboration with experts in other areas, he also takes part in research and demonstration of rice and corn planting.
One key demonstration program he is engaged in involves planting high-yield, blast-resistant rice at high altitudes. The program covers 200 hectares of rice fields in four provinces and will hopefully solve the blast problem in Burundi’s mountainous areas, which has been a major concern in the country. Hu said currently the program is going well, with the rice plants at the tillering stage.
Hu said the pandemic has wreaked havoc on Burundi’s economy, and reduced people’s income. As a result, people have less money to purchase agricultural produce. Restrictions on flights and delayed arrival of containers have also affected the availability of food supplies. The pandemic also hindered arrival of manpower from China, and Hu had to get his hands on more tasks.
One recent project he completed is a cold storage facility for seeds. The original plan was to have technicians sent by the Chinese manufacturer of the equipment do the installation, but they couldn’t come due to the pandemic. Hu couldn’t find local technicians with expertise to do it either. To advance the project as scheduled, Hu, who was very familiar with the operation of such equipment but had never installed any, started trying when the components arrived. After around a month’s efforts with intense communication with the manufacturer, Hu had the cold storage house installed and it is now under testing.
Promising future
In the eyes of Hu, Burundi enjoys premium natural conditions for agricultural production. Located in the East African Plateau with the western part of the East African Rift running through it, the country has both plains with an altitude of 800-1,000 meters and mountains with an altitude of 1,200-2000 meters. This makes the tropical country suitable for a large variety of crops including even apple, which requires lower temperature. Thanks to the high altitude, along with proper rainfall, sufficient sunlight and sharp temperature difference between day and night, many crops have the potential to generate high yield with good quality.
Agriculture is the cornerstone of Burundi’s economy, with more than 90 percent of the population living off nearly 1 million family-operated farms. However, the traditional way of farming cannot produce sufficient food. Most of the families have two meals a day, with some even having just one, and the meals are simple, typically made of corn flour, tapioca flour or rice cooked with beans. Only a few people can afford meat and eggs on a daily basis.
As a solution, the experts in aid missions to Burundi have put great efforts in promoting high-yield hybrid rice planting techniques in the country. “It will hopefully solve the food shortage problem in Burundi, as well as help lift growers out of poverty with its high yield,” Hu said.
The local governments and agricultural associations have cooperated to promote the planting of hybrid rice, but there are various situations that require technical guidance of the experts. For example, some famers may not follow the procedures as required; others may use the allocated fertilizers for other crops, affecting the yield. This requires the experts to get themselves in the fields again and again and communicate with the farmers.
Hu is confident that their efforts will pay off, and not just because of the favorable natural conditions. He said Burundians are hardworking people just like the Chinese people, and the local governments are functioning well.
“In China, we can feed 19 percent of the world’s population with 7 percent of the world’s arable land, and the vast majority of Chinese people have enough food at their disposal. With the employment of proper technology and management skills for agricultural production, the same can happen in Burundi,” he said.