Who Will Feed Lesotho?

(MENAFN- The Post) Xi'an, China – IN 1995, an American researcher, Lester R Brown published a controversial paper titled, Who will feed China? A wake-up call for a small planet.

In that paper, which attracted massive international scrutiny, Brown claimed that China would soon require huge support from Western countries to feed its 1.2 billion people.

The statement was met with anger in Beijing.

“We will feed ourselves,” was China's robust response a few hours after Brown held his press briefing across the Atlantic in the United States.

Now some 30 years after the publication of Who will feed China?, Beijing has provided an emphatic response to that“provocative” question posed by Brown, according to Professor Feng Yongzhong, from the College of Agronomy at Northwest A & F University in China.

Professor Feng was speaking at a one-week seminar attended by delegates from 50 African countries in Yangling, China, last week. The seminar, whose theme was Chinese modernisation and African development, was organised by the government of China.

It was held in the Yangling Demonstration Zone, a base for agricultural research and training.

The demonstration zone was established by the Chinese government in 1997 to promote innovation in agricultural science and technology.

It has more than 110 agricultural research institutions and platforms affiliated to the programme, all geared towards self-sufficiency in food production and industrial capacity.

“China has become one of the major grain producers in the world,” Prof Feng says.

China, India, Russia and the United States are among the main corn producers accounting for 60 percent of the world's output, he says.

Prof Feng says Brown's“prophecy of doom” that China would fail to feed itself has not come to pass. Instead, what we are seeing is an emphatic response to Brown and those who questioned whether China had the capacity to feed itself.

Over the past two weeks, your correspondent had a front-row seat, watching at close quarters how China has modernised its agriculture and industrial sectors in the last 70 years.

It was an eye-opening trip.

Who said one needs rich soils to grow crops?

The answer to that question came when the African delegation visited the hydroponic farming project at the Yangling Intelligent Agriculture Demonstration Park.

With the right oxygen levels, sunlight and water, one can successfully grow a variety of vegetables.

The lesson was that there is basically no need for soil. Only smart greenhouses with the right conditions.

Next up was the kiwi fruit farm, also in Yangling.

The kiwi, which is rich in Vitamin C and potassium, is a popular fruit in China. It is also rich in anti-oxidants and fibre.

Surprisingly, China is growing crops out of a tiny piece of its land. Only nine percent of China's land is arable.

The rest is said to be highly toxic making it unsuitable to grow crops.

As we drove through a maze of road networks in Xi'an, I was in awe at how every little piece of land is being utilized to grow crops.

The Chinese have learnt their lessons following the devastating famine of 1959 to 1961.

That famine appears to be a silent reminder of what can happen when a country fails to grow enough to feed itself.

It is that historical context that galvanized the Chinese political leadership to take deliberate and well-calculated steps to ensure food self-sufficiency for its 1.4 billion people.

“It is a matter of national security”, according to one official who spoke to the delegates.

Since that great famine in the 1960's, China has recorded significant gains in moving from an agrarian society to a sophisticated, modern society.

From the rudimentary farming practices of the past, China has mechanised its agriculture and embraced innovation. It has adopted the latest technologies to feed not just itself but the world.

It has cloned its dairy cows to maximise milk production.

It has developed crop varieties that are resistant to extreme heat and cold. It has also developed pest-resistant crop varieties. It has done so while mitigating the effects of climate change.

After 30 years of strenous work, China now sits on top of the pile when it comes to grain production in the world.

In pushing for modernization, Prof Feng says China has developed high end intelligent agricultural machinery such as harvesters and new energy tractors.

It has not shied away from adopting smart agricultural practices through the use of Artificial Intelligence.

It has not hesitated to use gene-editing of crops to improve the quality of its fruits and agricultural produce.

Speaking at the official opening ceremony, Xue Ping, says modernisation is a“core national strategy” of the Chinese government.

He was however quick to add that“modernisation should not equal Westernisation”.

In other words, China is committed to charting its own path towards modernisation without mimicking Western models of development.

For decades, I too had allowed the“noise” from the West to shape my perceptions of China.

That“noise” mainly emanated from what the West calls a“lack of democratic space” in China and the suppression of dissent and personal freedoms.

The treatment of religious minorities and the absence of WhatsApp, for instance. That personal communications are under intense surveillance.

That there is no vehicle for alternative political expression. It is the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and the CPC alone.

And when one challenges the CPC, as what happened in the pro-democracy protests of 1988, such political activism is quickly swatted.

That China often helps former liberation movements that it supported in the 1970s to steal elections.

That China's doctrine of non-interference in the affairs of“sovereign states” actually props up dictatorships in Africa.

Growing up in the early 1990s, Chinese products were the butt of jokes. That they were of an inferior quality and were therefore not durable.

It took only a week to basically dismantle some of these misconceptions about China.

I, and many other colleagues from African countries, have had to adjust our perceptions of China and the Chinese people in general.

We came to appreciate that this is a non-racial society of hard-working people.

Although the Chinese political system may not be perfect as seen through Western lenses, it is working perfectly well for its own people. And most importantly for them, the people are happy.

This is a system that takes care of its elderly.

While United States' President Donald Trump is imposing tariffs on African countries, China says it stands ready to fill the void left by Washington and foster a closer bond with Africa.

Xue Bing, a special envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Horn of Africa Affairs, spoke of China's resilience“in the face of United States sanctions”.

He spoke of China's desire to“advance modernisation” through a“strategic partnership with Africa in a new era”.

This new partnership comes after Trump announced a spate of punitive measures against African countries including Lesotho which he infamously insulted as“a country nobody has ever heard of”.

The US has since cut aid and imposed tariffs on all African countries.

Xue however says the world needs to stand in solidarity with Africa.

He says China's commitment to Africa will not change.

As the US is abandoning Africa, China says it stands ready to step in and fill the void. That was the message China was sending to the African delegates.

“We cherish peace and care about civilization. China never established a single colony in Africa,” Xue Bing told the seminar.

He says it is“an ardous task to meet the basic needs of food and clothing for 1.4 billion people”.

He spoke of the“long history” of China supporting liberation movements in Africa in the fight against colonialism. He spoke of the Tazara railway line built in the 1970s connecting Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia.

Xue says China is willing to strengthen its ties with African countries and will offer zero tariffs to all 53 African countries.

He called the recent moves by the US to impose tariffs an“unreasonable treatment of Africa”.

“The US is using tariffs as a tool to defend international affairs,” he says.

He says he wants to see an upgrade in the China-Africa partnership for development in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, energy and the digital economy.

“China is an open, confident, peaceful and peace-loving people with a real appreciation for Africa and its people,” he says.

But like any other political systems set up by man, the Chinese system is not perfect. It has its own flaws and cannot meet the expectations of everyone.

There is a huge problem of unemployment particularly for the youths in China.

That is normal.

Prof Li Lu, the Director of Research Centre for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics at the Shaanxi Academy of Governance, is aware of these dynamics.

He says the Communist Party of China on the whole has lifted people out of abject poverty. This, however, is a step-by-step process, he insists.

“People's standards of living have improved significantly. The people are confident that they are going to enjoy a more prosperous life,” he says.

He says the CPC has learnt from it's mistakes in the past and lifted the lid slightly to allow a measure of free expression.

“The party (CPC) is good at self-correction. We never ignore our mistakes, and are constantly correcting these,” he says.

He was speaking with particular focus on the events of 1988 when the government in Beijng crushed pro-democracy protesters demanding the opening up of democratic space.

The narrative peddled by the West is that China is seeking to“colonise” Africa and extract its vast mineral resources. That they are the new colonial masters in town. The Chinese have rejected the charge as untrue saying all it wants is“to advance a strategic partnership with Africa”.

China's modernization provides key lessons for Lesotho and Africa.

There must be a clear roadmap towards modernisation for Lesotho.

Basotho must know where they are going in the next five to 10 years. Without a clear roadmap, we are likely to fumble in the dark, unclear as to where we are going as a people.

The second is that Lesotho must invest in technology.

“At the core of China's agricultural modernisation was a deliberate attempt to adapt measures to local conditions not simply relying on external aid nor blindly copying foreign models but instead build a system that is suited to your local conditions,” according to Xue Bing.

That can only be possible through“coordinated reforms in policy, science and technology, markets and people's livelihood”, he says.

The third take-away from the seminar was that in forging partnerships, African countries must assert and maintain their autonomy.

African countries must embark on a sustainable and inclusive path to agricultural modernisation, according to Xue Bing.

Climate change continues to pose serious challenges to global food security. High temperatures and droughts have significantly affected wheat and corn harvests. The wheat output is expected to fall by between 15 and 25 percent this year while in China and Russia, the world's two biggest granaries, harvests are expected to fall by between 30 and 40 percent.

“Although the Covid-19 pandemic has subsided its lingering effects on global food security continue to persist,” according to Prof Li.

The Russia-Ukraine war has also resulted in supply chain disruptions triggering price fluctuations and regional famine risks.

Over the last week, I learnt that China is not shouting hollow slogans about development. It is walking the talk, at breathtaking speed.

Its vehicle assembly plant in Shaanxi is rolling out a brand new truck every eight minutes. No wonder China is becoming the destination of choice for African businessmen seeking to expand their operations.

Chinese companies have made huge inroads in Africa, building roads and airports across the continent.

Of course there have been shrills of protest from indigenous Basotho businessmen who accuse the Chinese of using aggressive tactics to push them out of lucrative tenders.

This piece is not advocating a“copy and paste” approach to China's modernization model. That would be fatal. Instead, what is needed is to tweak the Chinese model to suit Lesotho's unique circumstances.

We have a lot to learn from how China has modernised its agriculture sector.

The fact is that we are blessed with huge pieces of arable land in Lesotho. We have good climate and excellent soils. We have vast water resources. Our water is clean and tastes better.

We are sitting on a“gold mine” as a country.

We therefore have no excuse why we can't feed ourselves. We have no excuse why we can't generate foreign currency through water exports.

Lesotho and Africa must move away from political sloganeering but incentivise and empower local farmers.

China, for instance, provides incentives to supermarkets that buy a certain percentage of produce from local farmers.
This supports local farmers and creates jobs.

For the Chinese, the revolution did not end with the chasing of Chiang Kai Shek in 1949. The revolution continues to mutate from one form to the next. Long live, the revolution!

Abel Chapatarongo

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