China-Africa Cooperation on Improving Food Security for a Zero Hunger World

Ending hunger and malnutrition is one of the most important goals to achieve under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. There is a global consensus to sustainably increase food production and improve agricultural productivity. 

Rice is a staple or alternative food crop in many African countries. Due to funding and technology constraints, the potential for rice production has yet to be unleashed in Africa. Improving rice production, and enhancing the rice value chain remain central and key areas of importance in South-South and Triangular Cooperation with a potential to address the concerns of food security.

Conflicts, extreme weather and the continuous disruptions to the global economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to millions of people facing a food security crisis. Many African countries need to import large amounts of food to feed their populations are suffering from even more severe food shortages. Building a sustainable rice value chain from production to sales will eventually contribute towards ending hunger and improving food security. 

China has a long history of rice cultivation. Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, China’s rice industry has progressed remarkably in a way that has attracted worldwide attention. The development of the rice industry has contributed greatly to overall economic development agricultural transformation and poverty eradication in China. As the second largest economy in the world and the most populous developing country, China is a strong supporter and active participant in South-South and Triangular Cooperation. In order to better support and facilitate agricultural cooperation between China and African countries and to better leverage comparative advantages in globally advancing rice value chain development through South-South and Triangular Cooperation, the Initiative entitled“Strengthening South-South and Triangular Cooperation in China-Africa Rice Value Chain” was initiated during the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in 2019, jointly by the African Union (AU), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), the China National Hybrid Rice R&D Center (CNHRRDC), the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The initiative aims at assessing and outlining Africa’s demands for the development of the rice industry with a focus on facilitating, policy making, planning, investment matchmaking, research, development, local technology demonstration, and capacity development training. Through customized technology transfer application and investment, the initiative aims to leverage the comparative advantages of each partner to unblock bottlenecks impeding agricultural transformation including provenance research, and the improvement of cultivation technologies, equipment and the agricultural industry chain. 

Sharing China’s successful experiences and advanced practical technologies through South-South Cooperation is one of our most important tasks. I think that Africa has plenty of land, fertile land to produce rice, and the weather is there. China has got technology and techniques and funds so if we combine together these two and the friendship , and the trust, we can do a lot of things together. I believe our cooperation in the future especially regarding improved varieties, hybrid rice and other technologies as well as some appropriate methods including mechanization and updated models of cultivation technologies will make significant contributions to the improvement of food productivity in Africa, especially for rice. 

We would like to pay a heartfelt tribute to Professor Yuan Longping for his contribute to improving global food security and agriculture technology innovation.

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