Chinese agricultural experts explore areas for future help |14 December 2012

During its week-long visit, the delegation met and held talks with principal secretary Michel Nalletamby  and other senior officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Industry, as well as from the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA).

The delegation also visited the livestock and veterinary department at Union Vale, where they had a chance to observe the state and conditions of these services.

The Chinese delegation was lead by deputy director-general, Xie Jianhua. Other members included professor Zhang Sisong, the deputy station chief of NATESC’s Agricultural Technology Extension Station in the Hubei Province; Li Li and Zhang Kai, the deputy division chiefs of the Cash Crops and Food Crops divisions, respectively; and the research assistant of the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Huang Chenyang, who also served as the delegation’s translator.

The delegation also visited the Seychelles Agricultural and Horticultural Training Centre (SAHTC) and the Chinese Zhang Gui Cheng farm at Anse à la Mouche, Willy Confiance’s farm at Val D’Andorre and José Pool’s farm at Anse Royale.

Will Dogley, the head of the plant and animal health section and Gilbert Port-Louis, a principal extension officer, accompanied the delegation on the various site visits.

Giving details of the visit, Mr Port-Louis said it was aimed at exploring areas for collaboration in enhancing crop production through improved technology and extension services as well as capacity building of the food producing entrepreneurs.

During the meeting, the delegates of NATESC were informed of the various critical issues facing the agricultural sector in Seychelles as well as previous and ongoing efforts being made in the sector to resolve most of these issues with the help of international organisations such as Ifad, Nepad, and the African Development Bank.

Members of the delegation highlighted some areas where there is scope for cooperation such as improvement of soil quality, irrigation technology and technology transfer.

They also mentioned the possibility of Seychelles benefiting from farming courses currently available to the South East Asian countries.

“There is a lot of areas where Seychelles stands to benefit from the Chinese NATESC,” said Mr Port-Louis.

He noted that this first meeting marks the beginning of potential future cooperation in agriculture between Seychelles and the People’s Republic of China.

It is worth noting that the NATESC stretches across China with over 4,000 centres and 400,000 employees. It works directly with farmers, helping them to apply new technologies. The centres also serve as distribution channels for new products used by farmers. The products include fertilisers, pesticides, seeds, farming equipment.

Mr Dogley noted at the end of the visit that the Chinese delegation has shown a very high level of interest in the different discussions and equally during all the sites visited.

“It would be important now to follow-up at higher level to have their proposals on what areas they feel collaboration could be more effective,” he noted.