By Joseph S. Margai in Beijing, China
The Chinese Minister of Agriculture, Han Changfu, has revealed in a press conference on recently at the Media Center in Beijing that China and Sierra Leone are currently enjoying good relationship.
Han Changfu, who was responding to questions posed by a Sierra Leonean journalists at the presser about several issues relating to food security and sufficiency in Sierra Leone and by extension, Africa, said as a presidential special envoy, he recently paid a visit to Freetown in further strengthening ogf China’s cooperation with Africa countries.
“We are very gladdened by the way our cooperation is going with Sierra Leone. We would like to do more for African countries in a better way,” he said.
Asked to respond to rumors that plastic rice, manufactured in China, were being exported to Sierra Leone, Minister Han Changfu said that he has never heard or seen such plastic rice and that China’s rice is safe for human consumption.
Talking about how to further enhance the cooperation, he said the technology, talents, and policies as well as supporting Chinese investments in Africa, is the Chinese’s key focus and would further expand the scope of the cooperation.
“I will really like to share with African people our experience in producing enough food stuff to feed our citizens and export. As Minister of Agriculture, I have been receiving lots of government officials from Africa trying to learn from us and we have been always ready to pass on knowledge,” he said.
He said the bilateral relations between China and Africa have always been beneficial.
Minister Han Changfu said in China they have a growing population of about 1.4 million people and it’s always the top priority of officials of government to solve the problem of grain security.
“The central government has attached great importance and adopted a lot of policies in this regard since China’s reform and opening-up. The government has invested a lot in technological advancement in this regard to further develop the machinery,” he said.
He said the grain productivity can reach 600 million metric tons and they can say that they have set the basic needs for people’s daily requirement.
“We are talking about the same situation in Africa because it has not yet solved the issue of safe supply of grain products. Around the world, there are about 800 million people still have the food difficulties,” he said.
He cited that in Africa, they have established agriculture pilot zones in 40 African countries where we showcase Chinese technology, adding that they also have African countries especially nice developing countries to train the personnel.
“We have sent a large group of experts to Africa and we also invite experts in Africa or the government officials related to agricultural sectors to China to study and pay field visits. We also give support in areas like agricultural machineries, fertilizers, etc., to African countries,” he noted.
