On September 19th 2019, members of the Chinese Agricultural Technical Cooperation Project in the Central River Region embarked on the first phase of rice transplanting with the staff and workers of the Gambia Sapu Agricultural Station.
The two-day exercise was aimed at strengthening communications and discussions between the Chinese group and its Gambian counterparts on rice planting technology, purification and rejuvenation of conventional rice and providing experimental planting data for the later core demonstration plant.
During the exercise, two conventional rice varieties – ITA212, and ORYLUX6 – provided by Gambia Sapu Agricultural Station were planted and transplanted.
The Chinese experts and technicians held demonstrations on how to master the technology of dry seedling cultivation.
Seed manager Yankuba Sanneh and his team were was shown in detail the essentials of each technical process of rice seedling cultivation, management, and the important role and significance of seed purification and rejuvenation.
The Chinese expert group indicated that by purifying and rejuvenating rice seeds, the potential of increasing yield of rice varieties could be brought into full play and the yield could be effectively increased. Yankuba Sanneh, the seed manager of the Sapu Agriculture Station, said he would actively cooperate with the rice planting management.
He expressed his staff’s willingness to learn the advanced rice planting technology of China through cooperative planting, so that Chinese hybrid rice could be tested and disseminated in The Gambia at an early date.
The Chinese expert said that during the next period, while tending to rice seedlings transplanted in the first phase, they would speed up the trial planting and popularisation of hybrid rice in China, strengthen cooperation and exchanges with their Gambian counterparts, draw on strengths and weaknesses from reality and provide technical services to improve rice yield and rice seed system in The Gambia.
By operating within this holistic framework, they expressed their optimism that together with their Gambian friends, they will ultimately contribute to the steady advancement of Gambian agriculture.
