As the sun rose over Midekin Village in Douguia District of Chad's Hadjer-Lamis Region, golden rice ears swayed gently in the breeze as farmers geared up for this year's harvest.
It was Saturday, and villagers here celebrated the Harvest Festival, with the roaring engines of harvesters mingling with the joyful laughter of local farmers into a song of praise.
Local authorities and senior government officials joined the occasion, watching with interest and pleasure as a Chinese agricultural expert started a brand-new machine: it hummed, then roared into action to begin harvesting the rice.
Mahamat Ahmad Alhabo, secretary general at the Presidency of Chad, observed the exercise, describing it as a breakthrough for the Central African country.
"I am very interested and at the same time amazed by (the expertise) of our (Chinese) friends. They demonstrate that if we want to, in Chad, we can produce enough rice to feed the Chadian population and contribute to a balanced diet, and what's more, we can export it for sale to generate income," Alhabo told Xinhua.
While sesame, gum arabic, and cotton are Chad's primary agricultural exports, rice is the primary staple crop and key to its food security.
However, insufficient financial resources, outdated agricultural techniques, and hot, dry weather conditions have long posed a challenge to the country's rice yields. The government has to import hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rice annually, still not enough to lift its people out of the threat of famine.
In 2006, a team of Chinese experts, part of the Agricultural Technical Assistance Mission of China to Chad (MATACT), arrived in the country. From the introduction of high-quality rice varieties to farmland development and irrigation construction, Chinese experts provided hands-on assistance and professional equipment, such as rice transplanters and harvesters, machines that Baradine Kadre, a 27-year-old farmer, had never even dreamed of.
"I've been working here for four years, but this year there have been a lot of changes. When I see the machine harvesting the rice directly, it makes me proud," said Kadre while watching the rice harvester "perform magic" in the rice field.
After nearly two decades of unremitting efforts by Chinese agricultural experts, rice varieties in the country have been optimized with ever-increasing quality and harvest. Over 600,000 hectares of improved rice seeds have been sown.
According to He Qiaosheng, head of the eighth group of MATACT experts, more than 10 varieties have been selected, with three of them ready for inclusion in Chad's national seed catalog. Yields of Chinese varieties have exceeded those of local ones by over 35 percent, adding 1.2 million tonnes of food -- enough to feed 3 million people for a year.
For farmers like Oumar Souleymane, Chinese experts have explained the methods concerning rice production without reservation, which has improved farmers' techniques, enabled them to feed their families, and offered them hope and prosperity.
"We have learned a lot, for example, how to make rice seeds, how to plow, and most importantly, the Chinese team provides producers with fertilizer when plowing," said the 35-year-old.
By introducing practical technologies suited to local conditions while learning from Chad's farming traditions, both sides have benefited, He said.
"China attaches great importance to agricultural cooperation with Chad, a country with vast land and hardworking people. Cooperation is based on equality, mutual benefit, and shared development. China aims not merely to 'aid' but to foster genuine partnership, sharing knowledge, building capacity, and training local talent," the Chinese expert added.
