How do Chinese farmers keep maize seeds? Kaggwa Ruth Jennifer
raised the question of her concern to a Chinese expert who is
giving speech on pests control.
"Professor Wang suggested to coat seeds with chemicals and seal
up for one week. This has been proved to be effective in seed
storage in China." said Jennifer from the Agricultural Ministry of
Uganda, adding that she will bring back the Chinese experience to
Her country.
Jennifer is on a two-week training program?in
Beijing?on Integrated Plant Management (IPM) for African
countries organized by the National Agro-tech Extension and Service
Center (NAESC) under the Ministry of Agriculture of China.
Citing the training as "definitely helpful", Jennifer also
appreciated Chinese expert informative help on her question.
"I was told that Chinese farmers sometimes buy seeds of good
quality from market in stead of storing seeds themselves. We could
also introduce this commercial way into our agriculture industry."
Jennifer said.
A total of 18 members engaged in plant protection or agriculture
related field of seven African countries including Uganda, Congo,
Zambia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Kenya join the training
program.
Statistics shows that over 500 million worldwide population
couldn't feed themselves, among which 200 million in Africa.
"We never want to depend on the weather for our food," said
Fikru Meko Shuru from Ethiopia, which suffered severe drought in
recent years.
"China's agro-technologies help to ease our difficulties and
help to ensure food security," Shuru said, echoing other
participants' remarks,
"We are here to learn, to be advised." he added.
According to the NAESC, the training program aims at further
strengthening the exchanges of agro-experts between China and
African countries and promoting the extension and application of
IPM technologies in African countries,
"Chinese experts came to my country ten years ago teaching
farmers how to transplant rice seedlings. It's so effective that
rice production jumped that year," John B. Koroma from Sierra Leone
told Xinhua. "Our farmers are still using the methods even
now."
The Chinese government issued its first-ever African policy
paper early this year, putting forward its proposals for all-round
cooperation with Africa in various fields including Agriculture
sector in the coming years.
"The problems we are encountering are what China has passed
through already. We hope to share Chinese experience in Africa.in
the future." Jennifer said.
(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2006)