A centre for joint research on environmental protection has been opened at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
The Sh3 billion Sino-Africa Joint Research Centre will help combat desertification and other ecological problems and will help improve agriculture.
The project is a partnership between JKUAT and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was fully funded by the Chinese government. It occupies 40 acres in JKUAT’s Juja main campus.
The research centre has laboratories, a herbarium and greenhouses. It also has administration offices and conference and accommodation facilities.
China will also fund a botanical garden to strengthen collaborative research in conservation, water management, desert control and contemporary farming.
Chinese Ambassador Liu Xianfa termed the project a great milestone in cooperative scientific and technological research between China and Kenya, as well as Africa at large.
He said the project aims at pursuing development and environmental protection in a holistic way.
Dr Liu said the research centre is the most significant research project ever supported by the Chinese government anywhere in the world.
He spoke on Monday in JKUAT during the hand-over of the research centre to the Kenyan government.
The envoy said that in 2014 the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang emphasised the importance of cooperation in ecological protection between Africa and China.
Dr Liu said the research will contribute to protecting the ecosystem and ensuring that resources in Kenya and Africa are used for development.
He said China will collaborate with Kenya to promote cultural exchange, reduce poverty, promote peace and security and protect the environment.
JKUAT vice chancellor Mabel Imbuga said the centre will promote research and training in environmental protection.
“The research will mainly focus on areas such as biodiversity conservation, geographic and remote sensing, natural products development, agricultural science and technology, microbiology and molecular biology,” she said.
The centre will have a park divided into thematic gardens – African, Asian, Orchard, Exotic and Medicinal gardens, Prof Imbuga said.
“We’ve contacted all counties to submit indigenous species of plants they want preserved in the garden and they have been responsive,” she said.
The centre will be critical in ensuring food security.
Prof Wang Qing-Feng of Wuhan Botanical Garden at Chinese Academy of Sciences and JKUAT’s Prof Robert Gituru are the inspiration behind the research centre.
