Chinese projects breed fortune in Sahara

by Xinhua writers Lyu Qiuping, Ai Fumei

Zhang Hong'en packed a suitcase of grass seedlings from northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, traveled thousands of miles to Mauritania in West Africa and planted them in soil.

In just 50 days, the magic grass grew to more than an adult person's height, with each cutting seedling divided into a dozen tillers. Three months later, the plants reached 4 meters high, providing abundant fodder for local livestock.

Dubbed "the grass of happiness" by many countries, the giant Juncao from China is a high-yield feed crop with the potential to diversify the diets of livestock.

"Growing the grass in Mauritania will surely benefit farmers and herdsmen," said Zhang, director of the animal husbandry technology demonstration center in Mauritania.

At the 10th ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum held in Beijing on Thursday, China announced that it will build with the Arab side 10 joint laboratories in such areas as life and health, AI, green and low-carbon development, modern agriculture, space, and information technology.

As part of China's efforts to promote agricultural cooperation with Arab states, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ningxia regional government established the demonstration center in 2015 to provide technical guidance on dairy farming, forage production and forage processing in Mauritania.

The center's plantation area of Juncao has reached 0.2 hectares and will be expanded to 6.7 hectares by the end of this year.

"Our demonstration center will become a seedling base for Juncao, providing the seedlings to Mauritania nationwide and helping farmers get more forage," said Zhang.

Animal husbandry is one of the pillar industries in Mauritania located on the southern edge of Africa's Sahara Desert.

Over the decade, the center has not only turned nearly 67 hectares of land in the demonstration center into an oasis but also greened more regions across the country.

Based on the center's successful case, Mauritania has witnessed more and more Chinese companies' participation in making the land better, which deepens bilateral cooperation in various sectors such as fishing, energy, trade and agriculture.

In late 2023, China implemented a zero-tariff policy on 98 percent of taxable products from six least-developed countries, including Mauritania, creating more business opportunities.

Eyeing Mauritania's rich and unique marine and livestock resources and favorable zero-tariff policy, Mao Guohua from Ningxia plans to build a factory processing camel meat, beef, mutton and marine products. The processed ready-to-eat products will be exported to China for sale.

"I paid a visit to Mauritania in April and I'm quite confident about the prospect of the project," said Mao.

(Intern Li Jiexia contributed to the story.)