• Chinese experts are providing thousands of farmers in the West African country with higher quality seeds and technical guidance to improve yields.

• The assistance is part of an agricultural support initiative dating back to 1998, aiming to help Guinea-Bissau attain self-sufficiency in the vital crop.

Staff Reporter

A team of Chinese agricultural experts spent the runup to Lunar New Year working furiously to help farmers in Guinea-Bissau plant their next crop – part of a decades-long effort by China to support its West African ally, reports Xinhua.

The members of the 12th Chinese Agricultural Technical Assistance Mission are based in the Bafatá region of Guinea-Bissau, where the Geba River sustains more than 25,000 hectares of irrigated rice fields, even in the middle of the dry season. Often called the “rice granary” of Guinea-Bissau, Bafatá has also become a hub of rice farming innovation and development in the country thanks to the Chinese missions which began nearly 30 years ago.

While cashews are the country’s primary agricultural export, rice is the primary staple crop and key to food security. Chinese experts on the ground in Guinea-Bissau have provided thousands of local farmers with higher quality seeds and technical guidance to improve yields.

The Contuboel farm serves as the mission’s research centre for trials of comparative rice varieties, of which 17 have been sown. Team head Zheng Junjie told Xinhua that the trials will “help identify three to five varieties best suited to local conditions” because of their ability to withstand drought and pest predation. They will later be transplanted to open fields, he said.

“Rice seedling cultivation is a technical task,” Lassana Cambai, director of Contuboel farm, explained to Xinhua, “requiring precise control of temperature and humidity, as well as strict management of diseases and pests.” Producing high-quality seedlings requires meticulous care but the payoff is well worth the effort. “Even our remote village can now cultivate high-quality rice,” Queba Santos Seidi, village chief of Manbonco in the Oio region, said when the experts visited to distribute seeds from the previous harvest.

Another mission farm at Carantaba serves as a demonstration site for advanced rice cultivation techniques. Sana Camara, director of the Carantaba farm, told Xinhua that he was thankful for the “invaluable” assistance of Chinese experts. “Eradicating poverty and hunger and achieving food self-sufficiency are fundamental rights for development,” he added.

Published Date: February 7, 2025