Chinese seedlings take root in the "City of Clouds"

2023-05-15

In May, with continuous drizzle in Asmara City, Chinese agricultural experts such as Liu Yunmin and local farmers were busy plowing and tidying the land in the fields, preparing to sow seeds of crops such as rapeseed and broad beans into the soil before the rainy season. Asmara is the capital of the East African country of Eritrea, with an elevation of over 2300 meters and is known as the "City of the Clouds". Eritrea is located on the coast of the Red Sea, heading southwest from the port city of Massawa and passing through the hidden mountain road to reach Asmara. Agriculture is the economic pillar of Eritrea, with about four fifths of the population engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. However, the lack of crop varieties and backward agricultural technology seriously constrain the country's agricultural development. In recent years, China Ecuador agricultural cooperation projects have quietly improved the lives of local people. Agricultural cooperation between China and Africa is an important part of the poverty reduction and agricultural benefits project under the framework of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation. In order to promote the development of the agricultural industry in Eritrea, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China has dispatched three batches of experts to carry out technical assistance work in fields such as legumes, fruit tree horticulture, and oil crops, with significant results. Sichuan Highway and Bridge Construction Group, which has been involved in the construction project in Eritrea for a long time, also dispatched two agricultural experts to participate in local experiments and demonstration projects such as seed selection and breeding under the coordination of the Sichuan Provincial Government. High quality apple cultivation in Eritrea is still in its early stages. The locally grown apples have small and astringent taste, so the apples sold in the market are mostly imported from abroad, with a price of about 70 yuan per kilogram, "said Liu Yunmin, the leader of the senior agricultural expert group for the third phase of the aid to Ecuador. In order to provide Eritrean people with delicious and low-priced apples, the expert group brought 210 apple seedlings from China and promoted plastic film mulching planting technology based on the local drought characteristics. After planting for a year, the apple trees that have traveled far across the ocean are growing well, and the improved local tree species have begun to bear fruit. In the nearby demonstration plots for beans and oilseeds, the harvest of broad beans, red kidney beans, and rapeseed has been completed, with a unit yield increase of over 50% compared to local varieties. When the rainy season arrives in June, the Chinese expert team will start a new round of planting and train local agricultural technicians and farmers to carry out intensive farming. The seeds that have been tested are the best seeds suitable for Eritrea, "Liu Yunmin said. After achieving a series of results in the project trial and demonstration stages, the work of Chinese experts has received high praise from the Eritrean side. The rapeseed seeds imported from China are very suitable for planting in Asmara, "said Hermias Asmerash, the coordinator of the China Ecuador Agricultural Technology Cooperation Project in Ecuador, We are still experimenting with planting broad beans and red kidney beans in three locations, and the results are satisfactory. "" Eritrea China agricultural cooperation has started well and achieved significant results, and we look forward to reaching a higher level of cooperation between the two sides, "said Eritrean Minister of Agriculture, Arefin Belh. A few hundred meters away, in the demonstration field of Sichuan Highway and Bridge Construction Group, the bean seedlings are already covered with green beans. After the Eritrean government achieved large-scale planting nationwide, local people no longer need to purchase this popular vegetable at a high price equivalent to tens of yuan per kilogram. Feng Jun, an agricultural expert in Sichuan's aid to Eritrea, said, "We have introduced multiple vegetable varieties, including rapeseed, chili peppers, etc., hoping to provide local people with

Edit:He Chuanning    Responsible editor:Su Suiyue

Source:Xinhua

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