Feature: China-funded project yields better rice harvest In Cote d'Ivoire

A group of Chinese agricultural experts on Wednesday joined other Cote d'Ivoire farmers at the Chinese-funded rice farming project in Guiguidou, Divo sub-region, some 180 km from Abidjan, to plant rice seedlings just before the start of the rain season.

Just like the support provided in other sectors such as infrastructure construction and industry, China is supporting Cote d'Ivoire in the agricultural sector.

Guiguidou rice farming project is an example of Sino-Cote d'Ivoire agricultural cooperation that was launched in 1995. Twenty years since its initiation, Guiguidou project still stands as a shining example of China's support for Africa.

Lu Ning, the head of Chinese technical team, arrived in Cote d'Ivoire eight years ago to lead the project.

Local farmers call him "Boss," a title he reluctantly accepts. "I am also a farmer and farming is my profession. I came here to help them increase production and income," he says.

"Rice is the fourth cereal product cultivated in Cote d'Ivoire. Due to high temperatures and rains, there are two farming seasons in a year. However, the average rice production at the national level still remains less than three tons per hectare," Lu said.

After several tests, the Chinese technical team worked with the National Office for Development of Rice Farming and Local Agricultural Councils to introduce different strains of rice which were better adapted to Cote d'Ivoire environment.

The Chinese experts equally taught Guiguidou farmers how to use new rice farming techniques to increase their harvest.

A good number of these farmers have tried to grow the Chinese rice variety in the last few years.

"We have been beneficiaries of this cooperation project. The Chinese have taught us farming and they also taught us other skills like repairing roads," said Benjamin Simpore, a 30-year old farmer who has been working with the Chinese technical team since 2010.

"My wife and I have been working here together. They gave us a free two-acre piece of land to grow our own food crops. This has enabled us to improve our living conditions," he said.

The Chinese technical team is currently comprised of eight experts, with majority of them having spent more than five years in Cote d'Ivoire.

In the last two years, the cooperation has yielded the first results.

The Chinese technical team managed to introduce a series of materials that have helped to increase productivity as well as rice quality.

Through this agricultural cooperation project, Chinese experts have expressed confidence that they will be able to support the achievement of Cote d'Ivoire's objective of becoming self-sufficient in rice production.

Rice is a staple food in Cote d'Ivoire, with average annual consumption of 70 kilograms per person. The country currently consumes about 1.7 million tons of rice annually.

Cote d'Ivoire was once a rice exporter, but with progressive disengagement of the government from the rice sector, it has not been able to meet its own requirements and has been importing huge quantities of rice, spending about 500 million dollars annually on rice imports in recent years. Endit