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)