"Look, how beautiful our hybrid rice grows! On the way from Bujumbura, Burundi's largest city, to the China-aided Burundi Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center, Yang Huade, head of the China-aided Burundi Senior Agricultural Expert Group, pointed to the rice fields outside the window.
Agriculture is the backbone of Burundi's industry. Since 2009, China has sent six batches of senior agricultural experts to Burundi to carry out foreign aid missions. "Aid a project, develop an industry", China-Burundi agricultural cooperation has made tangible contributions to Burundi's realization of the development goal of "everyone has food to eat and every family has savings".
Our lives are indeed different."
Cars drove slowly into the village, where two-story buildings were lined with scaffolding, and workers were busy building new houses. Seeing the car with the sign "China Aid", many villagers happily gathered around. "This is our first hybrid rice poverty alleviation demonstration village, Linger No. 4 Village. Yang Huade said.
In 2018, the Chinese expert group built the first hybrid rice demonstration project in Linge 4 Village, Kihangjia County, Bubanza Province, providing the village with productive inputs** and technical guidance for the first season, selecting young people from the village as technical leaders, and training cooperative farmers, and a total of 1,072 people from 134 households in the village planted hybrid rice. Today, the rice yield of the four villages of Linge has increased by 136%, and the average annual grain per capita is more than 900 kilograms, and the whole village has been lifted out of poverty.
His family was one of the first batch of demonstration households, and "this family has just built a new house......Speaking of the development of the four villages of Linge, Yang Huade is like a treasure. Seeing villager John coming over, Yang Huade pointed to a beautiful small building behind him and said, "That's his family's newly built building, and opposite is the rice processing factory he built." ”
John had 12 children. "We have a lot of children, and it used to be a big problem for so many people to eat, and it was not easy to eat two meals a day. "Now, the family not only has enough to eat, but they also have a processing plant and their children go to school." ”
Our lives are indeed different."The 33-year-old said that Chinese experts are always in the field to guide and that everyone will get help in time if they encounter any problems. "My family used to grow only half a hectare of ordinary rice, and the annual harvest was less than two tons, which was not enough for my own food. Under the guidance of Chinese experts, we planted hybrid rice, and the planting area was expanded to 15 hectares, the yield per hectare has increased to seven or eight tons, not only can not be eaten, but can also be sold, with a quarterly income of 15 million Burundian francs (about 5,244 US dollars). ”
For demonstration villages like Linger No. 4 Village, 36 have been built by China's high-level agricultural expert group in Burundi, and 20 will continue to be developed in the future. Not long ago, a grand ceremony was held in Linger No. 6 Village, not far from Linger No. 4 Village, where villagers sang and danced to celebrate the implementation of the hybrid rice demonstration project in the village. "I believe that hybrid rice will put everyone on the road to poverty alleviation and prosperity! Yang Huade said firmly.
The Chinese agricultural expert group has trained me".
The Chinese agricultural expert group has trained me".Nda Ikki, Director General of Burundi's National Agency for Cooperative Economic Development, often says so.
A few years ago, Ikki was an unemployed young man who couldn't find a job after graduating from university. In 2016, at the age of 27, he was selected as an agricultural technician by the Chinese expert group on the local trial planting of hybrid rice, and began to learn planting technology and management knowledge from Chinese experts, and gradually grew into an expert in promoting hybrid rice technology and a well-known entrepreneurial model in Burundi. Thanks to his excellent performance, Ikki entered the **job, and is now a senior**. Ikki said that he has always been grateful for the kindness of the Chinese expert group for training.
Yang Huade said that the expert group has always insisted on cultivating young leaders like Ikeji, "it is not enough to rely on the strength of the expert group, we must cultivate local agricultural talents." Young leaders usually need to receive more than one year of theoretical and practical training in the demonstration village.
Alliste is also a youth leader. Under the leadership of the Chinese expert team, he planted hybrid rice, not only solved his own food problem, but was also sent to Cibitoke Province to guide the cultivation and promotion of hybrid rice in the province, becoming a local expert.
In 2023 alone, the Chinese expert group will train 48 young leaders, 3,600 rural households in demonstration villages, and 450 college students. When the reporter asked how many students he had taught in Burundi for more than eight years, Yang Huade thought about it and said with a smile, "I can't count."
I often hear the expert group mention a Chinese proverb, 'It is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish'. Under the guidance of Chinese experts, many farmers have learned to 'fish'. "Chinese experts have provided them with a means of livelihood and a skill, and the cultivation of hybrid rice is a very effective help," said Yikeji. ”
With the help of the Chinese expert group, Ikki went to China several times for training and inspection. "I hope that Burundi and China will continue to deepen agricultural cooperation. He said that China has also experienced poverty and has achieved rapid development in recent decades, "With China as an example and the guidance of the Chinese expert team, I believe that Burundi can also achieve food self-sufficiency, get rid of poverty and move towards prosperity." ”
It is believed that in another three years, the hybridization rate of Burundian rice will reach 70%".
Those who come to Africa to participate in foreign aid work have a feeling. Yang Huade said. This year, the sixth three-year work of the Chinese expert group has begun. Among the 11 members are experts in various fields such as rice, fruit trees, animal husbandry, and fisheries, and half of them are left over from the previous period.
Yang Huade has been in Burundi since the third phase, and several members of the team have also participated in projects to assist other African countries before aiding Burundi. Liu Changhui, an animal husbandry expert and deputy leader of the Chinese expert group, has provided agricultural technology training in Ethiopia, and Wu Zhiping, a rice expert, has been providing agricultural aid in Nigeria since 2004 and has been working in Uganda for five years.
Although it is only more than 20 kilometers from the Chinese expert team's station to the city of Bujumbura, it often takes about an hour to drive due to bumpy roads. On rainy days, the dirt roads are muddy, and the muddy water can cover half of the tires. Under such conditions, specialists spend an average of 25 days a month on business trips and trips to the countryside. Several of the Group's vehicles are driven on potholed roads all year round, and they have to be scrapped every four years on average. "Each car has to drive at least 60,000 or 70,000 kilometers a year. Yang Huade said.
Burundi has good climatic conditions and can grow rice all year round, and the Chinese expert group has hardly any time to rest. It has become a habit for all specialists to get up at 5 a.m. and start their day at 6 a.m. "Every Spring Festival, on Chinese New Year's Eve, everyone gathers for a meal, which is lively. Liu Changhui said with a smile, "I went back to work the next day." ”
In Burundi, living conditions are indeed difficult and the work is arduous. Yang Huade said, "The natural conditions here are so good, we can popularize more agricultural technology and create more value for the local people, no matter how tired we are, we are willing." ”
In May 2022, Burundi**Ndayishimiye presented a certificate of honor to Yang Huade in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the development of agriculture in Burundi. Ndayishimiye said that the Chinese expert team has successfully increased the yield of Brauhina rice from an average of 3 tons per hectare to 10 tons, achieving a leap forward.
The 59-year-old is approaching retirement age, but he wants to remain in Burundi. "At the current rate of development, I believe that in another three years, the hybridization rate of rice in Burundi will reach 70%, and the whole country can basically achieve food self-sufficiency. Yang Huade said that he is confident that day will come.