Kenyan Scholar: Empowering Africa with Chinese Experience to Achieve Agenda 2063 Agriculture | Africa | Experience

Introduction

Through the Forum on China Africa Cooperation, China actively engages in dialogue and cooperation with Africa, sharing successful experiences in poverty alleviation and reduction. Through implementing agricultural innovation projects, strengthening infrastructure construction, and improving medical standards in Africa, China has provided new impetus for sustainable development and poverty reduction in Africa, helping Africa achieve its goals of eliminating absolute poverty, improving agricultural production capacity, and addressing food security challenges.

Author: Dennis Muninet

Executive Director of the Central African Centre at the Kenya Africa Policy Research Institute

The Forum on China Africa Cooperation holds a ministerial level meeting every three years. Through the Forum, China actively engages in multilateral dialogue and cooperation with Africa, greatly enhancing external confidence in Africa's achievement of poverty reduction goals. Compared to the first summit of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation in 2000, Africa's social and economic strength has been significantly enhanced today.

The comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Africa has achieved leapfrog development. In the process of developing sustainable poverty reduction partnerships, the two major civilizations of China and Africa uphold the values of equality, cooperation, and common prosperity.

As a true friend, China has always selflessly shared its successful experiences:

First, the CPC has led the people of all ethnic groups in overcoming difficulties, completed the mission of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and achieved the first century goal. One of China's greatest achievements is to promote high-quality agricultural development, ensure food security for 1.4 billion people, and lift approximately 850 million Chinese people out of absolute poverty. China has achieved such great success thanks to the continuous promotion of the rural revitalization strategy, increasing grain production through breeding technology innovation and effective food distribution, and continuously promoting the sustainable construction of agricultural infrastructure.

Secondly, China never avoids correcting errors. It is precisely the policy shift before and after the reform and opening up that injected China with the ambition of reform, promoting the vigorous construction of agricultural infrastructure and the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.

Thirdly, China can fully utilize its greatest advantage, which is its advantage in population resources. By improving the labor skills of the agricultural population, China helps impoverished farmers establish stable and profitable enterprises, and drives their families and even the entire village to overcome poverty. For China, although economic development provides necessary funds for poverty alleviation, precise poverty alleviation policies and the correct leadership of the government are the key forces in promoting rural poverty alleviation. African countries are well aware of the enormous harm of poverty and prioritize sustainable development.

Therefore, China has established the China Africa Poverty Reduction and Development Partnership Alliance, an important platform through which the African continent can learn from China's successful experience in eliminating absolute poverty. In addition, the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation held in Senegal in 2021 has provided new impetus for China to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction in Africa.

Firstly, China is committed to implementing agricultural innovation projects in Africa. According to data from the World Economic Forum, although Africa has 60% of the world's uncultivated farmland, it is still a net importer of food. In order to reverse this imbalance, in 2019, on the eve of the outbreak of the COVID-19, China held the first China Africa Agricultural Cooperation Forum. China and Africa have reached an agreement to continuously improve the bilateral agricultural cooperation mechanism. China will cultivate about 10000 agricultural talents for Africa, dispatch 100 senior agricultural experts to work in Africa, establish a "10+10" cooperation mechanism for agricultural research institutions in China and Africa, and create a joint research and development alliance for green technologies in agriculture between China and Africa.

Second, China has promoted the upgrading of agricultural demonstration parks in Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Mozambique, Zambia and other countries, supported Africa to build a full value chain for agricultural production, processing and sales, and solved the supply chain disruption caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.

Thirdly, China should make reasonable use of the South South Cooperation Assistance Fund to strengthen food security in Africa.

Picture four: China prioritizes improving infrastructure construction in Africa. China has implemented the "Agricultural Prosperity Project" in 100 rural areas in Africa to improve the living standards of farmers. China has also built and renovated railways, highways, bridges, ports, and transmission and distribution facilities, promoting the industrialization process in Africa and increasing employment opportunities for African people.

Fifthly, China vigorously strengthens cooperation in medical aid to non African countries. Poverty will hinder people's access to necessary medical care services. Therefore, during the global COVID-19 epidemic, China helped Africa fight the epidemic by sharing information, sending medical personnel, providing vaccines and protective equipment, and other means. In addition, in order to ensure the supply of vaccines in the African region, China's automated refrigerated vaccine storage facility, which can store up to 150 million doses of vaccines, will be launched in Egypt in 2022. This facility not only ensures the safety of vaccine storage, but also helps to strengthen the stability of the African vaccine supply chain. During the Forum on China Africa Cooperation in 2021, China also promised to provide an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

In summary, China is helping Africa implement the African Union's 2063 Agenda, reduce absolute poverty, improve agricultural productivity, and better respond to the food security challenges of the post pandemic era, promoting African economic development.

The original title of this article was "Catalyst for Agenda 2063"

Editor in Chief: Song Ping, Xin Xin

Editor | Zhang Zhao

Interns Zhuang Shuhan, Yang Hengrui, and Chen Yushu also made contributions

Responsibility