By J.P Turatsinze,China Africa News
Zhengzhou -In recent years, cooperation between China and Africa particularly in agriculture, industrial capacity building, and trade has surged. In 2024, trade between China and African countries reached US $295.6 billion, setting a new record and reinforcing China’s status as Africa’s top trading partner for the 16th consecutive year.
China’s engagement goes beyond commerce: it now encompasses large-scale partnerships aimed at modernising agriculture, transferring technology, building infrastructure, and strengthening connectivity across the continent.
Amid this backdrop, the African Union’s Permanent Representative to China, Amb. Sarjoh Bah, recently visited Zhengzhou in China’s Henan Province, often regarded as one of the country’s main “food-basket” regions where he delivered a keynote address and met with the leadership of China Henan International Cooperation Group (CHICO).
Their discussions focused on transforming African agricultural economies into diversified, modern, and resilient systems, in line with the ambitions of African Union Agenda 2063. The envoy underscored Africa’s major needs: improved infrastructure, stronger connectivity, agricultural modernisation, and energy development.
He highlighted Africa’s untapped potential in renewable energy solar, hydro, and wind while stressing the importance of technology transfer and building skilled human capital. He pointed out that the comprehensive development model employed in China’s Hunan Province could serve as a practical template for African nations to adapt.
During his visit, Bah also toured advanced agricultural facilities including Nonggu Agricultural Valley, the Hainan Modern Agricultural Development Base, and modern plant-laboratories. In these sites, he observed how China invests in talent development and knowledge transfer, modern methods for producing high-quality seeds (grains, fruits, vegetables), supportive financing, enterprise encouragement, and intellectual property protection all aimed at boosting productivity, sustainability, and resilience in agriculture.
This high-level engagement fits within a broader institutional framework anchored by Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and similar bilateral agreements that have sought for years to share Chinese agricultural know-how and support Africa’s agrarian transformation.
As of 2023, China had established 24 agricultural-technology demonstration centers across Africa, introducing over 300 advanced agricultural technologies and benefiting more than 1 million smallholder farmers.These initiatives have helped raise crop yields by an average of 30% to 60% in participating regions.
Some of the technologies being shared include hybrid-rice cultivation, improved seed varieties, water-efficient planting techniques, vegetable cultivation, and propagation methods for crops such as cassava. Additionally, training and capacity-building have been a major component: China has dispatched hundreds of agricultural experts to Africa and provided thousands of training opportunities for local agricultural professionals.
Beyond farming techniques, Chinese investment is increasingly flowing into agro-processing, logistics, trade, and other parts of the agricultural value chain. This supports not just crop production, but the transformation of agriculture into a full-fledged industry helping African countries move from subsistence agriculture toward agribusiness, value addition, and regional (or even global) trade.
The recent visit by the AU envoy serves as both a symbol and a reaffirmation of this growing partnership. By engaging directly with Chinese institutions, seeing first-hand how Chinese agricultural modernization works, and endorsing the alignment wi…
