Go to Africa to grow corn with Tanzanian farmers
The man is carrying the hoe, and when he raises his foot, the hoe is also raised high, and when he falls, the hoe is on the ground. One step is a pit. The woman follows the man and takes out a handful of seeds from the bag in her hand and throws it into the pit... …In 2011, Wu Jinchu went to Peyapiya Village, Morogoro Province, Tanzania, and was a little surprised to see the way local farmers grow corn.
This method is very traditional, rough and hard, but hard work has not yielded a bumper harvest. The harvest per mu is only 49 kg to 82 kg.
During the same period, the average corn yield per mu in rural China was more than ten times that of Peyapiya Village.
That year, it was also the beginning of Chinese agricultural scholars and Tanzanian farmers to grow corn together. Agricultural labor-intensive technology with dense planting as the main content began to take root here.
Ten years have passed. As one of the sub-forums of the 6th China-Africa Civil Forum, the "Small Technology and Big Harvest 10 Years Achievement Meeting" was held on November 16 at China Agricultural University.
Professors Wu Jin, Xu Xiuli, and Tang Lixia from School of Humanities and Development/School of International Development and Global Agriculture of China Agricultural University told reporters from Beijing News about the story of growing maize in Tanzania.
In the past 10 years, in a distant foreign country, "small technologies" from China have achieved a "big harvest" of maize in Africa.
1 Corn field changed by "seed rope"
The agricultural population of Africa is currently 580 million, and 48% of the population depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. In Tanzania, nearly 80% of the population is engaged in agriculture, and maize is the most important local food crop.
Local farmers will grind corn into noodles and then make food that tastes similar to Chinese rice cakes for daily consumption.
"Local farmers are accustomed to extensive planting and thin harvesting. The corn planting density in the fields is seriously insufficient. There are only about 6000 to 9000 plants per acre, and the average yield can only reach 300 kg to 500 kg per acre. When converted into China's mu system, it is about per acre. 49 kg to 82 kg. During the same period, my country's corn yield per mu has reached hundreds of kilograms or even thousands of kilograms." Xu Xiuli introduced to the Beijing News reporter.
Although the sowing method is relatively rough, experts have found that the "bald tip rate" of local corn is relatively low, that is, the probability that the top of the corn ear is bald and the number of kernels in the ear is relatively low.
"This shows that the supply of natural soil fertility is still sufficient." Wu Jin said that the trip to Tanzania was the first time that the Li Xiaoyun team of China Agricultural University went overseas to carry out an action project. Taking root abroad is also the original intention of the team to go to Tanzania.
Taking into account that local farmers do not have the financial resources to undertake chemical fertilizers and agricultural machinery, Li Xiaoyun’s team designed a complete set of labor-intensive corn based on China’s agricultural intensive farming experience and designed with reasonable dense planting as the core, supplemented by thinning and replenishing seedlings, cultivating weeding, and soil cultivation. Close planting program.
But how can we let local farmers more intuitively grasp the sowing method of intensive farming and change the past practice of randomly estimating the spacing between plants and rows?
In the end, the fellow teacher Zhou Shengkun ran straight to the local shop, bought a rope, and made a "seed rope" by himself, and the problem was solved.
"The rope is tied with a ribbon every 30 centimeters to mark the point of sowing. We inserted wooden stakes in the field. When sowing, we tied the two ends of the'seed rope' to the wooden stakes. The farmers follow the position of the colored ribbon on the rope. Planting is carried out so that the precise plant spacing is determined. The row spacing is determined by a 75 cm long wooden stick placed perpendicular to the'seed rope'. After a row of sowing is completed, the farmers move the wooden stakes to the other side of the wooden sticks on the ground. One end, so reciprocating.” Wu Jin has repeatedly pulled on the rope in the fields and taught farmers the correct use of the "seed rope".
"Later, farmers all learned to make'seed ropes.'" Wu Jin said. In fact, this method of accurately determining the plant spacing and row spacing not only increases the planting density, but also greatly facilitates the subsequent weeding work.
2 Only one person was willing to try at the beginning
For these Chinese agricultural scholars who visit the village every day and go in and out of the fields, the villagers in Peyapiya Village are a little curious, but let them break the traditional planting habits handed down from generation to generation and use Chinese-style intensive farming to plant. Corn is almost impossible.
"It was really difficult to promote agricultural technology in Peiya Peiya Village at the beginning," Tang Lixia said.
In the first year of promoting new technologies locally, only one executive officer named Shama approached them and expressed willingness to try the so-called Chinese technology.
But the prerequisite is that he can't try planting on his own land, but plant it on a small communal land in the village.
Shama was the first person willing to try new technologies that year and the only one that year.
Investigating the soil conditions, selecting relatively high-quality seeds, planting with reasonable spacing and row spacing, weeding and watering regularly... Shama tried to use Chinese technology to plant corn. What he and the local farmers did not expect was this small piece. The output of the experimental field has doubled that year.
31 households, 44 households, 53 households... In the following years, the number of new model households in Peiyapeiya Village continued to rise.
Chinese technology is gradually recognized and spread locally.
Because local farmers have very low risk resistance capabilities, the corn harvest determines the rice bowl of the whole family.
In the early stage, local farmers were unwilling to try new technologies on their own land, Tang Lixia understood very well.
Even Shama, who took the initiative to stand up, was half-trusted about Chinese technology at first, and he chose to try because he saw a short main road in the village. With the assistance of the Chinese team, he was repaired smoothly for the first time; see In the village, the village office was actually built, and for the first time the villagers had a place for discussion and office.
Of course, the opening of the situation is not limited to the flattening of a road or the establishment of a village office.
Every Chinese agricultural scholar who goes to Africa has done enough homework.
From February to March 2013, Xu Xiuli wrote more than 300 pages of research notes when he first visited Africa for research.
I live on the farm every day, get up at 6 or 7 in the morning, go to the village, chat with the farmers, do interviews, and have dinner at night, then shut myself in the room, copy the daytime scenes, and form notes.
This is Xu Xiuli's first real investigation abroad and the most memorable one.
"In the first year, I first learned about the local Chinese people. In the second year, I entered the African countryside and learned about the views of African farmers on China's aid. The locals are very friendly to the Chinese. They live in the simplest houses, but they are very optimistic about life. The sky is very blue, clouds are floating high in the sky, and a group of hospitable Tanzanians live below." Xu Xiuli said.
In earlier practical investigations, Chinese technology was forced to choose lands with poor soil conditions because it was not accepted by local farmers, and it was not better applied due to floods and droughts.
In 2018, Mr. Zhou Shengkun, who made the "seed rope" at the time, returned to Peyapiya Village again and found that 75% of the more than 450 households in the village had adopted Chinese technology to grow corn, and the output had also increased by 50%. To 180%.
As of 2021, Professor Li Xiaoyun's team "Small Technology Big Harvest" has been widely promoted and demonstrated in 10 villages in Morogoro Province. Farmers' attitudes towards Chinese technology have gone from being uninterested at the beginning to enthusiastically signing up.
3 Involve local farmers
On a table covered with a big red tablecloth, a villager from Peyapaya Village, Morogoro Province, Tanzania, is facing a brand new desktop computer at the table-this photo was taken in 2011 and is still in In Wu Jin's cell phone.
In 2009, Wu Jin traveled to rural Africa for the first time because of an agricultural development project for poverty reduction in Africa. He came into contact with the China Agricultural Development Group, which operates a sisal farm there. This was also when the team of Professor Li Xiaoyun from China Agricultural University came to Moro in 2011. Goro Province, in cooperation with the provincial government and the Sukoin Agricultural University of Tanzania, took the lead in the development and implementation of agricultural labor-intensive technology with dense planting as the main content in Peyapiya Village to lay the cornerstone.
"The first time we went to rural Africa, we brought computers and other office equipment. The locals were also very happy. But when we got there and put the computer on the table, we discovered that there was no electricity at all in the area. This was the case in rural China at the time. Unimaginable. On the contrary, we brought some traditional farming tools used by Chinese farmers in the 1980s, and the local farmers happily ran to us and told us, "very easy to use."
In Wu Jin's view, the most difficult thing in the local area is not villages without electricity, building a road, or going deep into the fields to teach farmers how to plant, but the difference in thinking and culture between China and Africa.
"A text in the textbook for the fourth grade of a local elementary school gave me a very deep impression. The text said that the little rabbit found that there was no food at home, so he asked his mother what to do if there is no food? His mother told him that it will be opened tomorrow. A party, in that case, the neighbors will share delicious food with each other, and we will have something to eat." Wu Jin's mother's answer in the textbook surprised Wu Jin.
"If you are in China, your mother may tell your children to do things on their own, get rich with hard work, and so on. This is where the cultural differences between China and Africa are."
"When we built a demonstration road in Peyapiya Village and built a demonstration village office, the locals naturally thought,'If you want to build it, you can build it.' They think this is a project for the Chinese to do, not for them. What to do. Build it right away, which is easier for China’s foreign aid projects. However, we want to emphasize the role of demonstration.” Wu Jin said.
China used to be one of the recipient countries that received the most aid in the international development aid system.
When accepting aid, China has always insisted on "self-centered, for my own use", incorporating Western aid projects into China's overall socio-economic development plan to achieve its autonomous development goals.
Do not do to others what you don't want to do to others. When the project is underway, the Li Xiaoyun team hopes to stimulate the initiative of the Tanzanian side through various means, and hope that the local people can become the leading force in the project and its own development.
In Peyapiya Village, teachers tried to involve local farmers in the construction of small infrastructure.
"From the beginning, we avoided emphasizing capital investment and focused on teaching China's agricultural production technology. We also focused on driving the input of local government personnel and letting them take the initiative to do these tasks. This kind of promotion method is very common in China's rural poverty alleviation, but It is rarely used in Africa."
Xu Xiuli also has a deep understanding of the difference between China and Africa.
“Influenced by traditional Western aid providers, local experts and villagers are more inclined to use the existing budget to serve the project, do nothing without a budget, and are relatively passive. When the Chinese team arrived, the locals found that our budget was not large. I was half-trusted about the project. So, we invited local people to visit and train at the Quzhou Experimental Station of China Agricultural University, using examples of how similar problems encountered in China were solved, gradually dispelling the concerns of local officials, and using parallel experience to inspire partners , Indicating that in the absence of capital, through the use of their own wisdom and labor, development goals can also be achieved. Unlike traditional donors who have cumbersome project assignments, strict logical frameworks, and political additional conditions, China’s development towards Africa Cooperation does not only formulate rigid assistance programs, but pays more attention to local needs in Africa, through consultation and joint construction, targeted sharing of China’s development experience, and promotion of local development."
In addition, Xu Xiuli found in the investigation that after the working group was thinking about “small technology” planting and increasing production, farmers would automatically promote Chinese planting technology, but the locals told her that this kind of publicity would be misunderstood by the villagers as showing off. ; She also collected basic information such as the age of the villagers in the preliminary investigation, but some local enthusiasts reminded her that asking the other party’s age, especially the age of the elderly, would be regarded as disrespectful to the other party.
"Many Western aid countries have their own special offices in the local area, and we have also visited them. Therefore, the farmers are actually curious about us who eat and live with the local villagers when we first arrive, and always run to the fields. In Chinese thinking, it is the responsibility of being a teacher to go deep into the front line and teach by example, but the locals only regard teaching as their own job, and do not directly serve the first-line production." Tang Lixia said.
4 The village office began to have local characteristics
Yellow walls, red roofs-if the village office in Peyapiya Village in the first village has Chinese characteristics, then starting from the second village, Wasimba Village, the local village office has very local characteristics. Because most of the appearance design and color matching came from the hands of local villagers.
"This means that our project has entered the second stage. From this stage, we deliberately step back and let the local government do it." Wu Jin said that the first stage is mainly guided by Chinese experts. In the second stage, they began to focus on the capacity building of the local government.
On the one hand, they invited higher-level officials to visit the project site many times to give government officials in the village an impetus for implementation; on the other hand, they either carried out local training activities, or invited officials to visit and study in China and observe Chinese grassroots cadres on the spot. How to "package villages and households".
Professor Li Xiaoyun in the team called it an "institutional experience demonstration" in addition to the "technical experience demonstration".
"Facts have proved that the local people are very smart and more business-minded." In Wasimba Village, Xu Xiuli observed that beside the village office built on the wasteland in the past, businesses such as bars and shops built by the locals gradually gathered. facility.
At the same time, farmers whose incomes have increased began to hire labor, which has stimulated employment in surrounding villages.
In 2017, when Tang Lixia visited Wasimba Village again, she found that many local people had built new houses. Some families even had enough money to send their children out to school. Many people bought new farm tools. The original small shops in the village went to the village for one month. The city buys 1 time, and now it needs to buy 3 to 4 times a month.
"In the past, the locals believed that agriculture is a livelihood, but now they have discovered that agriculture can also bring real income. They have also begun to save seeds for the next year of production. The local farmers have the awareness of farming, which is beneficial to the economy of the entire village. The degree of activity and the influence of ideas are great."
Now, farmers participating in the demonstration will leave 8 kilograms of improved seeds adapted to Chinese technology after the corn is harvested each year, which is the amount sown on one acre of land, which will be handed over to farmers who have not participated in the demonstration, helping them to become the number one in poverty reduction. step.
In 2018, the project entered the third phase-to promote 1,000 households in 10 villages in Morogoro Province, which was called the "Demonstration Project for the Dense Planting Increased Corn Production Technology for Thousands of Households and Ten Thousands of Mu".
5 Transformation and the future
"On January 13 this year, an online exchange meeting of the'small technology and big harvest' corn production increase project was held, aiming to reward the 10 best agricultural technology extension officers who took root in the project to improve the local people's livelihood. Government of Morogoro Province, Tanzania , China Agricultural University and Sukoin Agricultural University of Tanzania are the organizers. From the event planning to the recommendation of the 10 best agricultural technology extension officers, they were all actively completed by the locals themselves. The award-winning agricultural technology extension officers each rewarded a motorcycle This is something they have never done before. It seems that 10 years of driving the local people to develop spontaneously can be regarded as fulfilled."
From the first trip to Africa in 2011 to the last trip to Tanzania before the epidemic in 2020, Tang Lixia found that the local airport was renovated and taxis were more standardized.
Those Tanzanian classmates who were trained at the University of Agriculture, returned to the local area and became the backbone of agriculture. "All these make my colleagues and I happy there."
In fact, changes have been everywhere in ten years.
Computers are no longer a display in Peyapaya Village. A few years ago, rural areas in Tanzania began to receive electricity, including Peyapaya Village.
At present, the global situation for the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic is severe. Affected by this, the China Agricultural University team will not be able to go to Tanzania in the short term. This is very difficult for the project scholars who travel to Africa several times every year.
Fortunately, the local village also has a network and established an international WeChat group.
"Do it", this is the WeChat work group name created by Li Xiaoyun's team and African colleagues-the team maintains close contact with colleagues and farmers in Tanzania through the Internet, and corn is always their most concerned topic.
Whether in China or in remote Africa, the land is generous and fair. People have spent so much effort and sweat. The land silently records and rewards itself.
The B02-B03 edition was written by Cao Jingrui, a reporter from the Beijing News
B02-B03 version of the picture provided by the interviewee