Interview: Burundi official says agricultural partnership with China "very positive," expecting more support

BUJUMBURA, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Burundi highly appreciates its agricultural cooperation with China and hopes for more support for the country's farming projects, a senior Burundian agriculture official has said.

"The assessment I make of the collaboration in the farming sector between Burundi and China is very positive because that collaboration allowed both parties to share experiences, notably, as it is believed that China has expertise and experience in increasing production to face the population's needs," Prosper Dodiko, permanent secretary of Burundi's Environment, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry, told Xinhua in a recent interview in the country's commercial capital Bujumbura.

"We are witnesses of positive results, especially in the increase of rice production. Our local experts benefited from the selection of rice varieties in order to have varieties resistant to diseases and that produce a big harvest," he said.

In Gihanga, a district in Bubanza Province, Chinese agricultural experts have set up a multidisciplinary research center where hybrid rice varieties have been successfully cultivated.

According to Burundian figures, a hectare of paddy field that used to produce three to four tons of rice can now yield 10 to 11 tons with Chinese technology.

Dodiko said bilateral agricultural cooperation has also involved corn, fish farming and poultry.

"We're also working on fruits to check whether we can develop more productive varieties of fruits," he said.

Noting that locals trained by the Chinese agricultural experts will continue to implement learned farming techniques, the official hoped for China's support in helping the country achieve the goal of realizing "local production of hybrid seeds that were in the past imported."

The official said Burundi intends to collaborate with China to advance the livestock sector, particularly in poultry and fish farming.

"We plan to set up in Cibitoke province, northwestern Burundi, a multifunctional structure that will deal with four sectors, including rice, corn, pigs and poultry farming," Dodiko said.

"To make this project succeed, we count on the Chinese support in terms of expertise and assistance," he said.