Ambassador Hu Changchun, Head of the Chinese Mission to the African Union, Publishes a Signed Article in Ethiopian Media: “China’s Perennial Rice Technology Boosts Africa’s Food Security and Agricultural Modernization”
Source：https://capitalethiopia.com/2024/10/21/chinas-perennial-rice-technology-helps-africas-food-security-and-agricultural-modernization/ View count：82913
Editor’s Note
On October 20, Ambassador Hu Changchun, Head of the Chinese Mission to the African Union, published a signed article titled “China’s Perennial Rice Technology Helps Africa’s Food Security and Agricultural Modernization” in the Ethiopian media outlet Capital. The article emphasizes the importance of earnestly implementing key outcomes such as the “Agriculture and Livelihood Partnership Action” proposed by President Xi Jinping at the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit. It also demonstrates to African friends how China’s perennial rice technology contributes to food security and agricultural modernization across the African continent, while looking ahead to the broad prospects of China–Africa cooperation. The full text is as follows:
At the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation held in September 2024, President Xi Jinping solemnly announced that China is willing to work with African partners over the next three years to carry out ten partnership actions to jointly advance modernization, among which the “Agriculture and Livelihood Partnership Action” is a key component. To implement the outcomes of the summit, the Chinese Mission to the African Union and the African Union Commission jointly hosted the China–Africa International Seminar on Perennial Rice at the AU headquarters on October 16, World Food Day. The seminar injected new momentum into the accelerated promotion of perennial rice in Africa and fully reflected the high level of attention China and the African Union place on cooperation in food security and agricultural modernization.
Perennial rice is a type of rice that can be harvested multiple times after a single planting. It avoids the heavy labor of seasonal plowing and re-sowing required by traditional rice cultivation, significantly reducing farmers’ labor input and production costs. Independently developed by Chinese agricultural scientists, perennial rice technology features simplicity, high yields, and low carbon emissions. In 2018, it was successfully selected as an “International Agricultural Technology Innovation” by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In 2022, research achievements related to perennial rice were recognized by the world’s leading academic journal Science as one of the “Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2022.”
In November 2023, the Fifth African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture Ministers included perennial rice in the African Union Seed and Biotechnology Programme 2024–2025. In February 2024, the resolution of the 37th African Union Summit further incorporated perennial rice as a strategic innovative technology into key technology project plans and promoted its continent-wide application in Africa. Currently, China’s perennial rice technology has been implemented and promoted in countries such as Uganda, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, and Kenya, achieving positive results.
China is committed to implementing the China–Africa Agricultural Modernization Support Plan and the Agriculture and Livelihood Partnership Action, and is willing to cooperate with all parties to promote advanced and appropriate agricultural technologies such as perennial rice in Africa through market-oriented and commercial approaches. The Chinese Mission to the African Union will strengthen cooperation with the African Union and United Nations agencies, and enhance coordination with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the Common African Agro-Parks (CAAPs). Taking the implementation of the China–Africa Agricultural Modernization Support Plan, the FAO’s sustainable transformation of food systems, and the Belt and Road Science and Technology Poverty Alleviation Cooperation Initiative as opportunities, China will further innovate cooperation models and support Africa’s food security and agricultural modernization.
Looking ahead, China will continue to explore new pathways for cooperation with Africa, deepen agricultural collaboration, introduce more advanced agricultural technologies and investment, and support Africa in achieving food security, sustainable agricultural development, and poverty reduction. Let China and Africa work hand in hand to advance modernization and jointly build a new era of an all-weather China–Africa community with a shared future.
Ambassador Hu Changchun is the Head of the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the African Union and the Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Source of the article: https://capitalethiopia.com/2024/10/21/chinas-perennial-rice-technology-helps-africas-food-security-and-agricultural-modernization/