The Peoples Republic of China, through its Embassy in Nigeria is organising a five-day capacity training for 40 desk officers of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Chinese advanced agricultural techniques.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the first China-Aid Agricultural Technical Training Programme, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Shehu Ahmed, said the training was a follow up of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to China where bilateral cooperation was intensified particularly in areas of trade and agriculture.
He said the Chinese government promised to share with Nigeria its vast agricultural techniques with the sole aim of boosting agricultural productivity for food sufficiency and foreign exchange.
“Against this background, the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria and the Ministry of Agriculture decided to deploy the services of Green Agriculture West Africa Limited (GAWAL), based on its wide array of training programmes and its proactive involvement in the Nigerian Agricultural development over the years,” he said.
Also speaking, the Managing Director, CGC Nigeria Limited, Mr. Ye Shuijin, said the China-Africa agricultural modernization plan is one of the ten cooperation plans with Africa. Adding that China will share its experience in agricultural development with Africa and transfer readily applicable technologies to it.
“Chinese government will encourage the enterprises to engage in large scale farming, livestock and grain storage and processing in Africa to create more local jobs and increase farmers’ income. Undoubtedly, China-Africa agricultural modernization plan will provide broad prospects for China-Nigeria agricultural cooperation,” he said.
Declaring the training open, the Chinese embassy in Nigeria’s Charge d’Affaires, Mr Qin Jian, China got rid of famine and ranked first in worldwide farm output, Nigeria can do the same as china is willing to share it experiences with Nigeria on agriculture development.
He said for agricultural modernization in Nigeria, a great number of qualified personnel including technicians and officials are necessary and the agricultural capacity building should be put on the more important position.
