China-Africa Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Alliance (CAASTIA)

12 - 13 of June 2024.  Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, China. A two-day conference was  organized by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the FAO South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division and deliberated on the status of African agricultural research and innovation and how to optimize the partnership between China and the African continent with its 55 independent countries. The conference was attended by about 100 high-level scientists of Africa and China.

 The Chinese science and technology cooperation in Africa agriculture needs to be coordinated and the focus needs to be defined. The introduced Chinese technologies need to be adapted to the local context in Africa. Recent observations with agricultural processing and industrial machineries from China on their serviceable years or how long they lasts, showed the need to run strong adaptation of the machineries to general behaviors of users in Africa.

The upcoming China-Africa Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Alliance (CAASTIA),which was initiated by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the African Academy of Sciences, has huge potential to promote effective partnerships and exchanges between African agricultural stakeholders and that of China. 

• China has established cooperative relations with 23 African countries. In recent years, under the Belt and Road Initiative and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the two sides have carried out practical cooperation on major issues such as food security, poverty reduction, and agricultural green development,
• It was advised that FARA would play a constructive role in coordinating and implementing CAASTIA activities, to ensure its effective formation and operation.

Capacity building through training

Capacity building through training is the key to sustainable agricultural productivity, China has established joint laboratories in Africa for advanced research. These include the establishment of 

• Sino-Egyptian Joint Laboratory for Agricultural Green Development between IARRP, CAAS and NARSS for joint research in remote sensing-based monitoring, efficient utilization of water resources, etc.,
• Sino-African Joint Laboratory in Nairobi-Kenya by CAS for Biodiversity studies, 
• Biogas facilities by CAAS and training of over 1530 local technicians in African countries (e.g. Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritania, and Angola) for socio-economic development, 
• Capacity building in agricultural R&D for Africa by CAAS, which trained 276 PhD students from 38 African countries as at July 2023, and hosted 21 visiting scholars from Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Rwanda under the Talented Young Scientists Program, and 
• Training courses for African agricultural technicians every year by CAAS and CATAS to bridge the technology gap in crop breeding and cultivation, plant disease and pest control, animal disease monitoring and control, biomass energy, agricultural machinery, etc.

The importance of the China-Africa cooperation on agriculture was underscored when in 2023 the CAAS and MARA organized the 2nd Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Sanya city, which attracted some 39 Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Agriculture from across Africa and High-Level Officials from the African Union.

In 2023 the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) signed and implemented MOUs with various Academies in China, which include the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF).

Related 

KIGALI, June 22 (Xinhua) -- A seminar on China-Africa agriculture development was held Friday in Rwanda, with participants emphasizing the need to strengthen the partnership with China for agricultural modernization aimed at addressing the challenge of low food production on the African continent.

The one-day event in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, was organized by the Rwanda Institute of International Affairs (RIIA), in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Rwanda, themed "Practice and vision on China-Africa agricultural high-quality development: food security, improve added value and facilitate trade of agricultural products."