A group of African students are gaining cutting-edge agricultural knowledge and skills in north China’s Hebei Province to transform farming practices back home.
This is part of the China-Africa Science and Technology Backyard Program was launched by China Agricultural University in Quzhou County of Hebei Province, five hours drive from Beijing, aiming to train young technical talent for African countries.
Ibrahim Naziru, a Nigerian pursuing a master’s degree in agriculture, is one of the program participants. He finds the hands-on, practical approach to learning in China vastly different from the theory-heavy curriculum in Nigeria.
The program, operating since 2018, has already seen 70-80 African students graduated. Zhang Weifeng, director of the university’s experimental station in Quzhou County, said the results have been impressive.
“This year, our students gave us very positive feedback. The yield of the corn they planted was three times that of the local farmers in their countries. The reason is simple. We have advanced agricultural production management approach and advanced technology. This program is completely non-profit, and even more so for Africa,” said Zhang.
“I’m working with my professor and I’m working on plastic film mulching. The first thing I would do is to promote the use of plastic films because we have the dry season and wet season. So once rain stops, then it is good. That is where you apply this plastic film. Once I show it to our farmers, I know they will take it and they will use it,” said Naziru.
China’s agricultural prowess is well-recognized globally, and African countries like Nigeria have much to learn. Naziru acknowledged his home country’s challenges, from reliance on manual labor to inadequate seed varieties and limited access to modern farming tools and chemicals.
The China-Africa Science and Technology Backyard Program is bridging this gap, empowering the next generation of African agricultural innovators. By equipping students with practical skills and exposure to China’s agricultural advancements, the program is poised to boost food security and economic prosperity across the African continent.
China, Africa join hands in promoting agricultural technology, farming skills
Ethiopia looks forward to carrying out greater cooperation with China in various fields through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) mechanism, according to Ethiopian Ambassador to China Tefera Derbew Yimam.
The ambassador said Ethiopia, like previous years, will be represented extensively throughout the 2024 FOCAC Summit, scheduled for Sept. 4-6 in Beijing.
“Government authorities — ministers and senior officials — will take part in the summit, will take part in all activities, events of the summits, will be present in the senior officials’ meetings, will be present in the ministerial conference,” he told China Global Television Network (CGTN) in a recent interview.
The ambassador highlighted Ethiopia’s growth potential, saying that the country needs to work with China in such priority areas as agriculture and industry for further economic expansion.
“Our vision is to be a beacon of prosperity in Africa. Towards this end, we would like to cooperate in agriculture modernization, industrialization, and talent cultivation, especially in the field of industry. Our priority is input production for agriculture, for example, fertilizer production. We would like to develop our steel industry so that we can build our economy, infrastructure,” he said.
New energy and emerging sectors like information and communications technology (ICT) and artificial intelligence will also be focused, according to the ambassador, who added that next week’s FOCAC summit will be a great opportunity for China and Ethiopia to explore more ways of cooperation.
“New energy is an area that we’d like to cooperate with China. We are pursuing a green development path like China, [which is] excelling in this field. So, I’d like to cooperate in this area. In the newly emerging areas, we would also like to be a part of the process, in science and technology. In ICT, artificial intelligence, we have been closely communicating and closely working with the Chinese side so that we can have a significant cooperation in this area. So, in the coming FOCAC, our lists are long, and expectations are huge. And we are quite confident that the FOCAC action plan will capture most of the interests Ethiopia has regarding the FOCAC framework,” he said.
Ethiopia expects greater cooperation with China through FOCAC: ambassador
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