Sub-Saharan Africa: China offers help to improve cassava production
Towards cooperation between China and African cassava-producing countries. At the «Sino-Africa Agricultural Cooperation Forum» held from 13 to 16 November in Sanya, in the Chinese province of Hainan, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) intends to implement an action plan aimed at improving cassava yields to over 17 tonnes per hectare, compared with an average of less than 10 tonnes in some sub-Saharan African countries.
Under the theme of «Food security for Africa, writing a new chapter in Sino-African agricultural cooperation», this second edition of the conference was attended by representatives of the Chinese government, and particularly the African Ministers of agriculture.
According to Xie Jianghui, deputy director of CATAS, the plan includes the introduction of new varieties of cassava and advanced farming techniques in the region’s main producing countries.
«We will be helping countries such as Nigeria, Mozambique and the Republic of Congo to select better varieties of cassava, improve cultivation techniques and raise the level of mechanisation on their farms», he explains.
There are also plans to build agricultural demonstration centres in the various target countries in order to promote the marketing and large-scale production of the tuber.
In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is the leading producer of cassava, with a harvest totalling more than 58.2 million tonnes in 2021.
It is followed by the DRC (45.6 million tonnes) and Ghana (22 million tonnes), which complete the Top 3.
Yann ETERNEL
