The Chinese government has affirmed its commitment to help Kenya to develop an efficient irrigation system as well as to improve its grain storage facilities in an effort to tackle the country's increasing food insecurity.

According to Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa, Kenya can significantly realize food security if it modernizes its agricultural system. He says China has made great progress in agricultural modernization and is ready to share its know-how with Kenya.

With only 7 percent arable land, China feeds more than 20 percent of the world's population, while Kenya, with 17 percent arable land, does not have food security.

Liu Xianfa, Chinese ambassador to Kenya, says that Kenya can realize food security if it modernizes its agricultural system. He is pictured at a Chinese food donation launch ceremony at Nairobi, Kenya. Liu Hongjie / China Daily

Kenya's agriculture is mainly rain-fed, but about 80 percent of the land is arid or semi-arid, with average annual rainfall of 400 mm. Farmers use traditional farming methods, realizing meager produce. Droughts are frequent, and crops fail in one of every three seasons.

Currently, about 3 million people are in need of food assistance, and in February, President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the drought situation a national disaster.

Ambassador Liu says, "China is always willing to share its experience and knowledge with African brothers by helping them to develop modern agriculture, upgrade their anti-disaster facilities and build their capacity."

He says China has built an irrigation system that has solved food insecurity issues.

To solve the problem of a regional imbalance of water resources in China, the government launched the South-North Water Diversion Project, the largest national water conservancy project. The project aims to channel 44.8 billion cubic meters of fresh water annually from the Yangtze River in southern China to the more arid and industrialized north.

According to Kenya's Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the country's irrigation potential is estimated at 1.3 million hectares, but only 180,503 hectares have been exploited. This translates to 13.5 percent of total land mass under irrigation.

Additionally, the country has only 180 million cubic meters of water storage capacity for irrigation, which is far below the threshold of 3.4 billion.

"The strategy to increase the capacity requires all stakeholders to increase the water storage per capita from 5 cubic meters to 16 cubic meters by 2030," said Eugene Wamalwa, the water and irrigation Cabinet secretary, in his speech marking this year's Water Day, celebrated on March 22.

The need for improved agricultural yields through modern and innovative technology has been echoed by the Kenya Investment Authority.

The authority calls on foreign investors to invest in export-oriented agribusiness, the growing and processing of oil crops, and large-scale irrigation plans.

As part of its initiatives to help Kenya modernize agriculture, the Chinese government is also committed to transferring knowledge to Kenyans.

"We will cooperate on professional training and speed up technological transfer," says Ambassador Liu. "Currently, we are working on the China-Africa research center and joint laboratory for crop molecular biology."

The Sino-Africa Joint Research Center at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya focuses on biodiversity protection, resources remote sensing, microbiology and the promotion of modern agricultural practices.

The Chinese government is also working to help Kenya to upgrade its grain storage facilities. In Kenya, grain storage loss accounts for 30 percent of total production, while in China it's only 5 percent.

Soon after harvest, many smallholder maize farmers in Kenya experience huge losses because they lack suitable storage structures and proper knowledge of how to safely store their crops.

Maize, which is the country's staple food, is often infected with pests, diseases or toxins such as aflatoxin, which is produced by molds that develop when grains are stored improperly in humid climates. If consumed, the maize can cause severe illness.

Due to lack of suitable storage facilities, farmers have no option but to sell directly after harvest for a lower price because markets are usually flooded with grain.

"We are working on helping Kenyato upgrade its grain storage facilities in order to reduce the massive losses," says Liu. "We hope that through these efforts, Kenya's disaster prevention capacity and agriculture development will be elevated to a new level." (From China Daily Africa Weekly 04/14/2017 page28 )