STORY: African, Chinese stakeholders convene in Kenya amid call to transform food systems
SHOOTING TIME: Aug. 12, 2024
DATELINE: Aug. 14, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:30
LOCATION: Nairobi
CATEGORY: SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the forum
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): BRAM GOVAERTS, Director general of CIMMYT
3. various of the forum
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): FELISTER MAKINI, Deputy director general of Research and Partnerships at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization

STORYLINE:

Policymakers, scientists, and industry leaders from China, Africa, and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) convened in a forum held in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday.

The forum, organized by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and CIMMYT, aimed at advancing agricultural transformation, achieving food security, and addressing rural poverty on the continent.

Bram Govaerts, director general of CIMMYT, highlighted the importance of the forum, noting that it provides a crucial platform for African and Chinese scientists to explore new strategies for transforming food systems amid challenges such as climate change, crop pests, and diseases.

Govaerts emphasized that regular exchanges between Chinese and African scientists, based on South-South cooperation, are vital for transferring technologies, innovations, and best practices essential for revolutionizing smallholder farming in Africa. He also called for collaborative research to develop and deploy dryland crops like legumes and cereals, which are critical for addressing the continent's hunger crisis.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): BRAM GOVAERTS, Director general of CIMMYT
"China-Africa cooperation for research and to improve food security in Africa has huge potential, but we haven't fully exploited it. So today we are here together to make a plan to fully exploit it. So it's the potential of China's scientific technology and the potential and need of food security in Africa that we can bring together."   

Ye Yujiang, vice president of CAAS, noted that mutual partnerships between Chinese and African scientists can drive agricultural modernization, enhance food and nutritional security, and improve rural incomes. He highlighted Chinese research institutions' commitment to advancing cooperation with their African counterparts through training, technology transfer, and innovations aimed at increasing crop yields for smallholders.
   
Felister Makini, deputy director general of Research and Partnerships at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, highlighted that collaboration with China will help African governments address gaps in research, capacity, policy, and financing that have hindered the continent's agricultural transformation.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): FELISTER MAKINI, Deputy director general of Research and Partnerships at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization
"This collaboration is actually going to help us leverage on this expertise, leverage on this knowledge to be able to achieve what we have been trying to achieve in many years, in poverty reduction, in reducing hunger, in increasing productivity, and so this partnership, as I look at it, is a win-win partnership."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nairobi.
(XHTV)