Demba Sabally, Gambia’s Minister of agriculture, has praised China’s aid and assistance projects to his country as “extremely meaningful” and have begun to transform his country’s agricultural sector and farmer population.

“Through the provision of agricultural experts, Gambia has benefited from China’s generous support in the framework of South-South cooperation,” the Gambian official said.

Minister Sabally is currently attending the second Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Agriculture, which is underway. The forum is an initiative of the Chinese government to strengthen agricultural cooperation between China and Africa.

Chinese government officials lauded the collaboration as a fruitful endeavor with a promising future for a comprehensive win-win partnership.

The forum, titled “Food Security for Africa: A New Chapter in China-Africa Agricultural Cooperation,” was held from Monday to Wednesday in Sanya, south China’s Hainan Province.
Tang Renjian, China’s minister of agriculture and rural affairs, said in a keynote speech that over the last decade, China has established 24 agricultural technology demonstration centers in Africa and popularized more than 300 advanced agricultural technologies, increasing local crop yields by 30 to 60 percent on average, benefiting more than 1 million farmers in African countries.

By the end of 2021, the agricultural investment by Chinese enterprises in Africa has reached 12.8 billion RMB (1.77 billion U.S. dollars), growing at an average annual rate of 11.4 percent and creating more than 30,000 jobs, Tang added.

In August, China announced plans to support Africa’s Agricultural modernization. Gambia is however to benefit of the agricultural technology demonstration centers as those mentioned by China’s minister of agriculture and rural affairs.