China and Africa Pledge to Work Together to Enhance Food Security

Agricultural officials from China and Africa have pledged to enhance food security in the African continent through bilateral agricultural cooperation.

They made the pledge while attending the China-Africa Agriculture Forum, which concluded in Beijing on Thursday.

Yingying takes a closer look.

Agricultural cooperation has long been a focus of relations between the world's largest developing country and the world's least developed continent.

Representatives at the two-day forum expect this long-standing cooperation to play a more important role in improving Africa's food security.

Joseph Made, Agriculture Minister of Zimbabwe, welcomes China's assistance to improve his country's agricultural infrastructure.

"Zimbabwe's potential in irrigation infrastructure can be developed to reach 6 million hectares in the next 15 to 20 years. The irrigation facility in most agricultural land is old and needs to be rehabilitated. Through China-Africa cooperation a lot can be done to develop Zimbabwe's irrigation systems so as to enhance food security."

Zimbabwe has been recovering from a food crisis two years ago. But a new UN report says nearly 1.7 million people in the country will still need food aid next year.

Mohamed Muya, permanent secretary of Tanzania's Agriculture Ministry, says technological assistance from China is critical for Tanzania to increase its grain output.

"Africa produces what it does not consume. We need to produce what we consume. Taking my country for example, we have 29 million hectares of arable land and we only as now irrigate less than 300,000 hectares. The issue is not only finance but proper technology for irrigation. China is that technology."

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, around 30 percent of Africa's total population suffers from chronic hunger and malnutrition. Due to a low rate of irrigation and the use of fertilizers, the region's cereal yields stand at around 1.2 tons per hectare, compared to an average of 3 tons in the developing world as a whole.

Niu Dun, China's Vice Minister of Agriculture, pledges that China is willing to help enhance African countries' ability to feed itself on the basis of mutual benefit.

He says China will send 500 agricultural experts and technicians to Africa in the next three years to train some 2,000 local agricultural technicians and management personnel.

"Food security is crucial for a country's social stability and sustainable development. China and African countries should closely work together to address the issue. We should integrate China's technological advantages with Africa's rich agricultural resources to improve the continent's ability to feed itself."

The China-Africa Agriculture Forum has drawn the participation of nearly 400 representatives from China and 18 African countries.

For CRI, I'm Yingying.