Chinese Technology Helping Improve Mozambique´s Agriculture

Written by Ann Brown

May 25, 2014

Early in the morning, Rudy Manuel accompanies his father to the farm of their Chinese agricultural partner to sell the rice produced in his father’s land.

Late May is the end of the rice harvesting season in Mozambique. Rudy’s family has 42 hectares of farm land in the Xai-Xai district of Gaza province in southern Mozambique, where they began working with a Chinese private enterprise, China Wanbao Co., Ltd., in 2011, to receive a full set of agricultural machinery services provided by the company, and sell back the harvest in an agreement price.

In front of a grain silo with the capacity of 10,000 tons, conveyor carries the grains into the cleaning machine which removes the debris, and then another conveyor picks up the grains into the barn.

Despite big noises and dusty air, Rudy went close to the machines and took photos constantly with his cellphone.

Asked about the reasons, Rudy’s eyes lighted up, telling Xinhua through the noise that, “this kind of thing is spectacular!” Rudy said that before the cooperation with Wanbao, the farm harvests of his family can only reach a maximum of about 3 tons per hectare, with poor sales. In 2011, the family’s income was so low that they almost loses their house, cars and other properties to cover the bank loans.

After the deal with Wanbao, things have been greatly changed, Rudy continued, saying that “large-scale agricultural machinery came to our land, this secures the plantation and harvest, and we also no longer need to worry about the sales, Without their help, things could be much more difficult.”

Years of thorough field inspections gave Chinese specialists first hand data about local farming conditions, and Wanbao carried on the works via cooperation with the source of the techniques, a local agricultural technology demonstration center founded years ago by the governments of the two countries, together with the support of China Development Bank and China-Africa Development Fund. The Gaza province offered the company 20,000 hectares of land, and signed a development agreement with Wanbao for a large number of idle farm land and the surrounding areas.

In less than three years, the investment has reached nearly 200 million U.S. dollars, mainly in the construction of facilities and the purchase of a large number of machinery and equipment and land preparation, irrigation and electricity.