Profile: Malawian student uses Chinese farming techniques to plant seeds of agricultural development

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) — In the experiment fields of China Agricultural University, Malawian postgraduate student Francina Lerato Kuwali could often be found discussing maize planting techniques with her classmates.
In the past year, Kuwali and other Malawian students have helped 30 farmers in Malawi to plant maize. Putting into practice the agricultural theories and techniques they learned in China, the results of their endeavor were indeed fruitful.
In Malawi, usual maize yields are between 150 and 200 kilograms per mu (0.07 hectares), but the maize that Kuwali and her classmates planted using advanced technology recorded yields of approximately 600 kilograms per mu.
“The feedback was so good,” Kuwali said, excited about the experience.
Currently working at Malawi’s ministry of agriculture, Kuwali, 35, well understands the hardships facing the country’s agricultural development. “I’ve worked with smallholder farmers for a long time, and I see how they are struggling,” she said.
“About 80 percent of the economy of Malawi is based on agriculture; it is the backbone of the country’s economy,” she noted. “But still, we have many challenges, and we are not producing enough food.” Due to low yields, local farming incomes have remained limited, and farmers have been unable to purchase much-needed resources such as fertilizer, seed and machinery.
This situation is not a problem unique to Malawi, but a reality troubling many African countries. According to the 2024 edition of “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” report, 20.4 percent of the people in Africa faced hunger in 2023 — the highest percentage among all regions.
The determination to improve the lives of farmers drove Kuwali to attend a cooperative postgraduate education program known as the “China-Africa Science and Technology Backyard.”
“When it comes to agriculture, China is doing very well. So we want to learn the knowledge, and how China is doing it,” Kuwali said.
Launched by China Agricultural University in 2019, the program has been supported by institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Bank.
Following a unique cultivation pattern that combines theoretical study with practice, foreign students like Kuwali spend their first year studying agricultural theory and skills in China, and return to their home countries to make use of their newly acquired knowledge. In their third year, they return to China to complete their studies.
To help the students understand agricultural technology better, the university pairs them with farmers at its agricultural base in Quzhou County, north China’s Hebei Province, where they gain first-hand experience.
From the perspective of Jiao Xiaoqiang, head of the program and an associate professor at the university’s college of resources and environmental sciences, Kuwali’s diligence is truly impressive.
“She enjoyed chatting with locals and doing farm work with them,” Jiao said. “Although she doesn’t understand Chinese, she used mobile translation apps to communicate with the farmers and learn how they cultivate the crops.”
It was in Quzhou that Kuwali learned the technique of intercropping maize and soybean. By using the latter as a natural fertilizer, the yield of the former can be increased substantially. This technique is particularly useful in Malawi, where farmland is infertile.
In her second year of study, Kuwali brought the technique to her home country and experimented with local farmers. In addition, she applied the technique of using compost to improve the local farmlands’ fertility before planting crops. The results were more than satisfactory: yields of both maize and soybean increased.
“The results of Kuwali’s experiments with the techniques in her own country were beyond our expectations,” Jiao said, adding that thanks to her rich experience in communicating with farmers, she was able to popularize Chinese agricultural technology among many Malawian smallholder farmers.
To date, the university has developed “sci-tech backyards” in seven African countries, including Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania. The program has cultivated 91 agricultural professionals, 36 of whom have already graduated. Many have chosen to use their newfound knowledge to aid agricultural development in their home countries.
Throughout her studies in China, Kuwali has maintained one simple aspiration: to transform the lives of farmers in her country for the better. Now equipped with the knowledge she gained in China, she is confident that she will make contributions to that end.
“I wish that the lives of the farmers in my country can improve, and I hope my country can produce enough food,” she said. “With the technologies that we are teaching them, we can help farmers boost their yield, so they may have enough money and be able to sustain themselves.” ■