- The university was mentioned as the first to have benefited from ties with the first Chinese institution to offer bachelors and masters programmes in agricultural sciences.
- Egerton started its engagements with Nanjing Agricultural University more than 30 years ago during former President Daniel Moi’s administration.
Image: Photo/Egerton University.
Kenya featured prominently as China, especially Zheijang’s Jiangsu Province, took stock of its cooperation with Africa straddling more than three decades.
The country’s Egerton University stood out among the many African institutions that have partnered with China on agriculture, education, technical and vocational training, health, and infrastructure as well as humanitarian interventions.
The university was mentioned as the first to have benefited from ties with the first Chinese institution to offer bachelors and masters programmes in agricultural sciences.
Egerton started its engagements with Nanjing Agricultural University more than 30 years ago during former President Daniel Moi’s administration.
Hu Feng, Vice President of Nanjing Agricultural University, told a forum on Jiangsu and African countries cooperation, that the cooperation has birthed further partnerships with 10 higher education institutions in six other African countries.
“Since 2012, NAU has helped 28 short agricultural training courses in Kenya and other African countries including Mozambique, Benin, and Equitorial Guinea for 985 participants,” Feng said.
The university was further mentioned as having benefited from joint efforts to develop disease-resistant and stress-resistant crops, crop cultivation and bio-fertilizer tests, as well as the bean variety named as Chelalang.
In this pursuit, China put more than 200 farmers in Nakuru [as of 2022] to grow the bean, hailed as high-yielding, highly nutritious and one that doesn’t cause stomach bloating.
Kenya also featured in partnerships on matters fisheries where China reported it has trained more than 910 senior talents from African countries by 2021.
Jing Xiaojun, director of international cooperation of Freshwater Fisheries Research Centre of Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences, said over 10 ministry officials have participated in the trainings.
“Forty-three experts were sent to 16 African countries to provide technical consultation on tilapia farming, rice-fish, fishery resource management and processing,” he said.
This was even as Chinese leaders pledged to deepen the ties and vouch for more engagements with Africa on the development themes discussed in the last Forum for China-Africa Cooperation in Dakar, Senegal.
The meeting held at Zhejiang on Thursday highlighted the need to deepen practical cooperation with Africa.
“We encourage the various China-Africa forums to deepen cooperation on use of resources to contribute to prosperity of African society,” said Zhou Ping, deputy director general of the Department of African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“I am delighted to see universities, hospitals, and companies focus on exploration of African markets. We encourage more Jiangsu enterprises to settle in Africa,” he said.
For his part, Brian Chomba, Second Secretary at the Kenya Embassy in China, called on Chinese investors to consider setting up shop in Kenya.
“Kenya is keen to collaborate with Jiangsu and China in general to further ties. Ingenuity and modern cooperation is the way to surmount some of the challenges that African countries are still grappling with,” he said.
The Kenyan envoy added, “We have more opportunities for partnerships in higher education, tourism, public health. Kenya has benefited immensely on infrastructure through the Standard Gauge Railway, expansion of the port and East Africa’s first elevated expressway.”
The envoy further pointed out that “Kenya is ripe and ready to invite all investors” in line with President William Ruto’s Bottom-Up Transformation Agenda.
The meeting brought together African envoys in China led by Namibia’s Elia Kaiyamo, Phuti Tsipa (consul general of South Africa in Shanghai), Taofik Obasanjo (consul of Education Affairs, Nigeria) among other senior Chinese diplomats including Zhou, Yang Jing – deputy director general of Foreign Affairs office of Jiangsu provincial people’s government.
In his speech, Kaiyamo said, “Cooperation with Africa is key to every country’s development and would help attain the goals such as food security. We want to learn from our cooperation with China and we expect leaders to deliver the promise of shared prosperity.”
He urged for advancement in people-to-people contact and continuation of promoting the cultures of the states partnering with China.
“We need to know where we are coming from. Mao Tse Tung introduced us to China so we must keep his legacy. We support the one-China policy and I urge you to know the rules of Africa,” Kaiyamo said, inviting investors to visit the continent.
Yang said, “We have to plan for future cooperation priorities as we get ready for the 9th FOCAC meeting.”
She added that Jiangsu will add more to the doctors it has sent to African hospitals and attract more students to its colleges – which already have students from 33 African countries.
“Lets keep our ties on the fast lane, deepen communications between the people and give new meaning to the people,” Yang said.
Africa, it emerged, has also benefited from TVET equipment, textbooks, desks, Covid-19 protective devices, with Ethiopia, Gabon, Tanzania, Nigeria as the major beneficiaries.
Senegal, Congo, and Kenya have had more than 200 students enrolled in the China TVET support programmes, and experts sent to Gabon, Ethiopia, add to interventions under the Belt and Road Initiative.