In the ethiopian capital, addis ababa, green vegetables are bathing in the afternoon sun. All of a sudden, there was a storm and the rain was pouring down. At this point, only one person ran to the vegetable field in a hurry, and he unmasked the white plastic film covering the vegetable floor, and then took a breath and smiled on the mouth. This is the chinese vegetable expert, liu jieyun, who is responsible for this vegetable garden, which is located in the ministry of agriculture of ethiopia。
Derbew kebede deneke, a horticultural expert in the ethiopian ministry of agriculture, described the rainy season in addis ababa as having almost one or two heavy rains per day, often accompanied by hail, which had been extremely detrimental to vegetable production, and as a result the land had previously been largely idle during the rainy season and could only be grown during the dry season by watering it. “now that we can grow all year round, without fearing bad weather, liu’s vegetable demonstrations by the expert has made us truly witness to the usefulness and operationality of chinese technology.”
Liu jieyun (left) and experts from the ministry of agriculture of ethiopia conducted surveys to direct the production of carrots。
Liu zaiyun, 53 years old, is a senior agronomist in the agricultural office of the food-lake management area of hubei city in hubei province, who has been engaged in agricultural technology research for a quarter of his time on the african continent. As an agricultural expert, liu jieyun was involved in a three-year south-south cooperation project in nigeria, creating an extremely high yield of 1150 pounds/acre of rice in mozambique and training over 1,200 people in malawi
“when the project ended, local partners had always hoped that i would be able to return to africa at an early date, and i had been moved and pleased to see the look you had expected and the changes that agricultural technology had made to local agricultural development, and i had been involved in various non-agricultural cooperation projects, hoping that my technology would change the lives of more people.” liu jieyun told the beijing weekly journalist that on 8 november 2018, as a vegetable expert in the third chinese team of agricultural experts for ethiopia, he had embarked once again on a three-year agricultural cooperation project on the african continent。
Green treasure to be excavated
According to liu, the vast area of agricultural land in ethiopia, which is fertile and luminous, is more suitable for the development of vegetables, especially stalks, such as lettuce, spinach, beet and cabbage, which are also the main vegetables on local table. However, the lack of relevant planting techniques leads to low yields and poor quality. “the development of vegetable production on the ground is not only of great potential but also of great importance for improving livelihoods.”
There are good prospects for the development of the esse vegetable industry, but there are also constraints. According to research, the primary factor is the lack of relevant local technologies for vegetable cultivation and basic agricultural infrastructure, which makes it difficult to cope with extreme weather and natural disasters. Due to the uneven distribution of rainfall in ethiopia, severe drought during the dry season, excessive concentration of rainfall during the rainy season and the frequent occurrence of severe weather conditions, such as hail, severely limit the effective production of vegetables. In addition, early and evening temperatures vary widely, and at night temperatures are consistently lower and do not contribute to vegetable growth. Combined with the lack of agricultural infrastructure and the fact that most farmland does not have access to irrigation and drainage, the ability to cope with adverse natural conditions is weak。
“if the local vegetable production potential is to be fully exploited, it will also require tailor-made production plans.” liu jieyun said。
The ethiopian minister of agriculture, oumer hussein (right five), led officials and experts to visit the vegetable garden
Practical technologies
In response to the natural conditions on the ground and the needs of the development of the vegetable industry and the practice of vegetable production in effon, the chinese expert group set up a practical technology demonstration project for vegetables, in which expert zheng ibo was responsible for the specialization project on fungi and expert liu jiyun for the specialization project on vegetables。
In collaboration with liu baeyun and local agricultural technical experts, a vegetable demonstration park at the ministry of agriculture compound was quickly completed, with a total of 10 subdistricts in a 200 square metre demonstration park, with six vegetable varieties and four spice varieties being planted, with a focus on the techniques of high-yield cultivation in small arch sheds to protect themselves from rain. During the rainy season of july-september, in the face of continued harsh weather conditions of low temperatures, heavy rainfall and three hails, the vegetables in the small archers survived a “dangerous period” and flourished, with the first season having a good harvest, with an increase of 17. 6 per cent to 23. 5 per cent. “this is a strong demonstration of the advantages of small archer vegetable cultivation, and the widespread promotion of small archer sheds, which can effectively withstand severe and catastrophic weather, is important to boost vegetable production.” liu jieyun said。
On 31 august 2019, the ethiopian minister of agriculture, oumer hussien, during a visit to a vegetable demonstration park, highly evaluated the small archer vegetable cultivation technology used by chinese experts and stressed that it was worth replicating and further expanding the area of application。
In addition, liu saiyun and local experts established demonstration sites at the menagesha and yeka bases in addis ababa. Currently, two demonstration sites at the menagesha base have been successfully completed and the yeka base demonstration site is under construction。
According to liu, the vegetable growing area at the menagesha demonstration site covers 3 hectares and, with the technical support of chinese experts, six old sheds have been repaired, four new sheds have been built and 3,000 square metres of demonstration area have been put into operation. The vegetable shed technology brought about by chinese agricultural experts has been unanimously commended for its usefulness by local technicians。
"china's agricultural technology is practical, low-cost and effective, and it's worth learning and promoting." horticultural expert derbew kebede deneke said。
Abdela negash, head of the horticultural division of the ministry of agriculture of ethiopia, was personally involved in the ground-cleaning of the membranes, the planting of seedlings and the construction of small arch sheds. When he saw vegetables that were still growing through a storm, he lamented: “china’s technology is simple, but it works amazingly.”
Liu jieyun (right) shared project implementation with menagesha project point partners
Cooperation is the key
“contributions are less expensive than technology.” liu jieyun explained that during the three-year china-ethiopia agricultural assistance project, the group of experts will conduct 210 training sessions in vegetable technology through in-house training, on-site lectures, skills exercises and on-site meetings, and has now completed 35 training sessions. The main target audience was agricultural officials, technicians and grass-roots farmers. The training focused on high-yielding vegetable cultivation models, with emphasis on simple plant cultivation, detailing and demonstrating practical techniques such as seedling migration, rational planting, fertilization of formulas, whole-stretching of chickens and integrated pest control。
At present, while the group has made various positive attempts to effectively boost vegetable production, a number of constraints remain that are difficult to overcome and overcome in the short term, including the lack of agricultural infrastructure, the lack of access to agricultural production resources, the lack of financial resources and the lack of literacy among farmers, which makes agricultural technology more difficult. In addition, after the conclusion of the agricultural cooperative project, there is a risk of idle equipment and base abandonment。
In the face of these difficulties, liu believes that enhanced cooperation is one of the most effective ways of doing so. On the one hand, cooperation between the governments of central and eastern europe can be strengthened through the negotiation of permanent registration of technical cooperation organizations or institutions for agricultural assistance and the continuous and steady deployment of specialized staff and experts to ensure the sustainability of agricultural cooperation projects. On the other hand, technological cooperation could be strengthened to promote more medium-sized enterprises in ethiopia, bringing local technology, talent and finance。
“at present, our group of experts is eager to help, within its capabilities, enterprises, organizations and individuals who come to ethiopia to study and seek cooperative development, to bridge the gap between china and ethiopia for mutually beneficial development. We believe that these enterprises will lead to the development of local industries and, ultimately, mutual benefit.” according to liu, “2020 is the 50th anniversary of china's engagement with ethiopia, and our group of experts will continue its efforts to make its own contribution to the development of local agriculture and to celebrate this historic moment”
