STORY: African officials seek deeper agricultural cooperation with China to tackle climate change
SHOOTING TIME: Nov. 16, 2023/file
DATELINE: Nov. 17, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:24
LOCATION: SANYA, China
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the Second Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Agriculture
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): MICHAYA GAMUNDE NASONA, Director for planning, monitoring and evaluation, Ministry of agriculture and food security, South Sudan
3. various of an agricultural base
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): GRETELLE ISAAC, Principal Lands Officer, Agriculture Department, Seychelles
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): EVELYNE HEYI AVAGALA, Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Kenya
6. SOUNDBITE 4 (English): DEMBA SABALLY, Minister of Agriculture, Gambia

STORYLINE:

African officials at the Second Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Agriculture held in China's Sanya said that African countries are willing to deepen agricultural cooperation with China, especially in dealing with climate change issues.

An official from South Sudan said that agriculture patterns in Africa have been greatly impacted by climate change, and China's advanced intelligent agriculture technology could help Africa to mitigate the effect of the global problem.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): MICHAYA GAMUNDE NASONA, Director for planning, monitoring and evaluation, Ministry of agriculture and food security, South Sudan
"Climate change has made tremendous changes in the agriculture patterns. In terms of our country, there is drought. Then there is flooding in many parts of the country. So we would like to appeal to the government of China to see to it that there is what we call smart agriculture, which is appropriate to mitigate the effect of climate change. We have learned a lot of innovation and technology that actually we have seen on the ground (in Sanya)."

An official from Seychelles said that the technologies used in the agricultural base she just visited in Sanya could help her country in dealing with climate change.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): GRETELLE ISAAC, Principal Lands Officer, Agriculture Department, Seychelles
"I work from a small island state. The sea level is rising, so our land resources are affected. So we have to find other innovative ways to use the resources that we have. So with technology, we can use less of the land because we don't have a lot of those resources. So we can go into hydroponics farming or vertical farming. We can use these technologies in our country."

Apart from climate change, African officials also call for cooperation in breeding hybrid rice seeds to reduce rice imports.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): EVELYNE HEYI AVAGALA, Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Kenya
"We would like to cooperate and work together. We know you (China) are very good in (hybrid) rice. We would like to reduce our import of rice."

During a speech in senior dialogue of the forum, Demba Sabally, Gambian Minister of Agriculture, praised China for its constructive help and expressed his willingness to continue the cooperation.

SOUNDBITE 4 (English): DEMBA SABALLY, Minister of Agriculture, Gambia
"The Chinese are great friends to Gambia and great friends to Africa. And as their saying goes, 'Do not give me a fish, show me how to fish.' This time, you are with us on the journey to go fishing. We are almost at the river, and we thank you so much for your assistance."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Sanya, China.
(XHTV)