A researcher shows cassava powder, delivered from a China-aid agriculture technology demonstration center in the Republic of the Congo, at a laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences in Danzhou, south China's Hainan Province, Nov. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)
SANYA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Starch-rich cassava provides food for more than 200 million people in Africa and is an important food security crop for the continent long plagued by hunger and malnutrition.
Workers show cassava roots in Sekia Dalle, Central African Republic, Nov. 5, 2021. (Photo by Louis Denga/Xinhua)
In Africa, cassava output has long been bottlenecked by a lack of better varieties, advanced farming techniques and processing facilities.
Workers clean up cassava roots before transforming them into plain flour in Sekia Dalle, Central African Republic, Nov. 5, 2021. (Photo by Louis Denga/Xinhua)
Women make cassava sticks in a village in Mengong town of the South region, Cameroon, Nov. 16, 2022. (Photo by Kepseu/Xinhua)
A villager cooks a traditional cassava dish named "Gozo" in Sekia Dalle, Central African Republic, Nov. 5, 2021. (Photo by Louis Denga/Xinhua)
Earlier this year, a cassava flour production line introduced from China was set up at an agriculture demonstration center in Brazzaville of the Republic of the Congo, with the capacity to produce 4,000 tonnes of high-quality flour annually.
Inside the center, machines are automatically cleaning, peeling, slicing and grinding cassava, turning the starchy tubers into flour.
"Now we no longer worry about not being able to dry cassavas when it rains. The production is done automatically under the roof," said Congolese minister of agriculture, livestock and fisheries Paul Valentin Ngobo. He added that the stable purchase price offered by the factory will also help increase the income of local farmers.
Staff harvest cassava at a China-aid agriculture technology demonstration center in the Republic of the Congo, Nov. 10, 2023.
A staff member displays harvested cassava at a China-aid agriculture technology demonstration center in the Republic of the Congo, Nov. 10, 2023.
Chinese institutes have risen to the forefront of cassava technologies amid the country's drive to ensure food security and to turn cassavas into an important industrial ingredient. The Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS), for instance, has bred more than 20 high-yielding, disease-resistant cassava varieties, and developed various cassava cultivation and processing technologies.
Such new varieties and technologies have so far been popularized on more than 666,000 hectares of land outside China.
A staff member processes cassava at a workshop of the Tropical Crops Genetic Resources Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) in Danzhou City, south China's Hainan Province, Nov. 13, 2023.
A staff member processes cassava at a workshop of the Tropical Crops Genetic Resources Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) in Danzhou City, south China's Hainan Province, Nov. 13, 2023.
Experts from the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) and local students pose for a group photo at a China-aid agriculture technology demonstration center in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, Nov. 19, 2019. (CATAS/Handout via Xinhua)
Amid the booming agricultural cooperation between China and Africa in recent years, new cassava varieties, farming and processing techniques from China are quickly taking root in Africa through technical training and jointly-built demonstration bases.
At the just-concluded Second Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Agriculture held in the city of Sanya in Hainan Province, Chinese agronomists issued a plan to further expand the area of new cassava varieties and advanced farming techniques to over 500,000 hectares in Africa.
According to the plan issued by CATAS, the improved varieties and techniques are expected to raise the yield of the root crops above 17 tonnes per hectare.
This photo taken on Nov. 14, 2023 shows the opening ceremony of the 2nd Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Agriculture in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)
Participants of the 2nd Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Agriculture visit an agricultural science and technology innovation center in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Nov. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)
Participants of the 2nd Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Agriculture learn about a drone at the Paddy Field National Park in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Nov. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)■
