Zambia needs China's assistance in technology and experts to
develop agriculture so that it can feed its 11 million people, an
agriculture official told a Chinese delegation in Lusaka
Monday.
Zambia is hardly able to feed itself after more than 40 years of
independence although it is bestowed with vast land and abundant
water resources, said Minister of Agriculture Mundia Sikatana.
He attributed the plight of the country to the backward
technology and lack of agricultural experts.
The 11-member Chinese delegation led by Wei Jianguo, deputy
minister of commerce, and Wan Baorui, a senior agriculture
official, is in the country looking into the feasibilities for the
two countries' further cooperation in the agricultural sector.
Wan said China and Zambia have achieved a lot in the cooperation
in the sector.
Farms operated by Chinese was set up in Zambia over a decade ago
and there are currently a total of 15 state-owned and private
Chinese farms in the country, which are playing an important role
in contributing to the gross domestic products as well as solving
the problem of unemployment.
He said the three-day visit was aimed to discuss with the
Zambian government the direction of agricultural cooperation and
find out new cooperative modalities.
Sikatana said China can help Zambia in many ways such as helping
build an advanced irrigation system.
"Our government intends to establish a system of irrigation to
enable Zambia to grow crops throughout the year instead of only in
the rainy seasons," Sikatana said.
The majority of the country's scattered farmers have no way to
engage in crops growing during the dry seasons between April and
November as a result of the lack of a well developed irrigation
system though abundant water has been stocked underground.
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Sikatana said China could help Zambia build canals, dams and
other irrigation projects with advanced technologies and guidance
from Chinese experts.
Farmer training is equally important, said Sikatana, adding that
the country intends to establish training centers for farmers in
all its 72 districts and China can also play a role in this
field.
"The best we can learn from China is to do like Chinese,"
Sikatana said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2006)
