A NEPAD Agency delegation undertook a mission to China for a technical cooperation meeting with the Chinese ministry of agriculture. This mission was organised in the context of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Programme (CAADP) and was critical for strengthening the collaboration between the NEPAD Agency and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture on Agriculture Policy, Science and Technology within the framework of a NEPAD-China MoU signed in 2012.

Leading the NEPAD delegation, Mr Martin Bwalya, Head of the Programme Development Division noted in his opening remarks that there is now a shift in African agriculture as presented in the Malabo declaration, to move away from subsistence farming and move towards conducting farming as a business. This will require collaboration with various key actors such as the private sector and bi-lateral partners; on several fronts including knowledge exchange and sharing and capacity strengthening.

Speaking on behalf of the Chinese ministry of agriculture, the Deputy Director General for International Cooperation, Mr Zhang Lubiao, expressed strong desire and agreed to not only renew, but to bring to a higher level the NEPAD-China collaboration. This will see development and implementation of specific programmes focusing on arid agriculture, water saving technologies and aquaculture.

The meeting was attended by representatives from various Chinese Government Departments, Shaanxi Province Department of Agriculture Deputy Director General with a number of senior staff and several senior lectures of the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University. Also in attendance were graduate students from Lanzhou University.

The mission also had comprehensive field visits to new technologies and research into, biotechnology, soil-less agriculture and arid agriculture where the Chinese are making great strides in research into water management and irrigation. They expressed the need to collaborate with African research institutions for cooperation in this area.

This mission will be followed up by the 15th Africa-China Ministers' Conference planned for later in the year and to be hosted by South Africa.