A workshop on dryland management in Africa was hosted by Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (WBG) in Wuhan from October 12 to 15^th. 

The workshop attracted 25 participants from 8 African countries drawn from the various regions of the continent mainly Eastern Africa, Western Africa, and Southern Africa, which face considerable challenges in their efforts to improve the practice of dryland management. The participants included scientists and academicians from leading universities and research institutes in Africa as well as senior government officials from ministries and departments involved in policy development and implementation in dryland management. Also present was a representative of the commercial sector in Kenya in view of the potential significant contribution to the economies of African countries that could be realized through improved dryland management practices.  

Chinese experts at the workshop were drawn from leading institutes including the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Wuhan Botanical Garden, Institute of Botany (Beijing), Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, and the Institute of Genetics and Development Biology.  

The workshop was coordinated by the Sino-African Joint Research Center (SAJOREC) which is a collaborative initiative between WBGCAS and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya. The workshop also served the additional purpose of creating increased awareness of the SAJOREC initiative among the African participants and especially those from outside East Africa. The workshop also featured representation from Somalia which is currently recovering from a protracted conflict with detrimental effects on dryland management and food security in the Horn of Africa region.  

The theme of the workshop was the role of introduction of modern technologies in agricultural production and management in arid and semi-arid regions and the strengthening of cooperation between research institutes in China and Africa in the field of dry land management.  

The Director of SAJOREC Prof. WANG Qingfeng invited the Director of Wuhan Botanical Garden Prof LI Shaohua to welcome the participants and officially opened the workshop. In his address, Prof LI Shaohua urged the participants to exchange ideas and explore the best ways to enhance cooperation between Chinese and African scientists in providing solutions to the current and emergent challenges facing management of dry lands. Ms Fenny Mwakisha, the Director of Higher Education in Kenya, thanked WBGCAS for organizing the workshop. She noted that dryland management was critically important in the development of Kenya whose 80% land mass was arid or semi-arid. Prof. Mohammed Abdi Sheikh Yusuf, the President of Savannah University in Somalia, observed the immense potential that could be realized by knowledge and technology transfer between China and African countries to improve dryland management and food security. Prof. Robert W. Gituru, the Deputy Director of SAJOREC, made the concluding remarks. He urged the African scientists at the workshop to fully contribute in promoting the SAJOREC initiative which was expected to play a key role in enhancing Sino-African cooperation in the field of scientific research.