Kenya's first demonstration village for China-Africa agricultural dev't and poverty reduction unveiled

BEIJING, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Matangi Tisa village in Kenya's Nakuru County was unveiled Tuesday as the country's first demonstration village for China-Africa agricultural development and poverty reduction.

Photo taken on Oct. 18, 2022 shows guests are attending the unveiling ceremony of Kenya's first demonstration village for China-Africa agricultural development and poverty reduction in Kenya's Nakuru County. (Xinhua/Li Xuemin)

The village is among the first batch of demonstration villages in Africa set up by the Belt and Road Initiative/South-South Cooperation Agricultural Education, Science and Technology League (BRSSCAL).

Local government officials, villagers and guests from universities in both countries witnessed the unveiling of nameplate online and offline.

The launch of demonstration villages represents concrete implementation of initiatives put forward at the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), said Hu Feng, vice president of China’s Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU), via video link. He hoped that the village could become new role model of China-Africa cooperation and advanced agricultural technologies from China could be further promoted in Kenya and other African countries.

Richard Mulwa, vice president of Egerton University, expressed his gratitude towards NAU for the support in Kenya's technological development in agriculture and the construction of agricultural study platforms. He wished to build closer strategic cooperation partnership with NAU as a way to promote China-Africa friendship and cooperation.

Fredrick Owino, head of Nakuru County's Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, said that the department will work with the two universities to promote Chinese agricultural technologies in the region in a bid to help increase income of local farmers and thus reduce poverty.

Liu Yutao, Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at the Egerton University, read the congratulation letter from the BRSSCAL at the ceremony.

Founded in 2018, the BRSSCAL aims to contribute to the progress and development of agriculture-related education and technologies in countries along the Belt and Road and countries participating in the South-South cooperation by providing cooperation platforms and pooling resources. (Edited by Li Shimeng with Xinhua Silk Road, lishimeng@xinhua.org)