Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, HE Wang Ke (Right), speaking with FAO Representative to Tanzania, Fred Kafeero, at FAO offices in Dar es Salaam

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the People’s Republic of China have committed to work together to support Tanzania by strengthening capacities for monitoring and reporting on desert locusts’ invasion.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the FAO Representative, Fred Kafeero and Chinese Ambassador  to Tanzania, HE Wang Ke, said that they had a fruitful discussion on a number of issues including the desert locusts invasion menace that is currently ravaging the Horn of Africa region.

“We discussed different aspects of supporting food and agriculture initiatives in the country particularly looking into the challenges that are caused by desert locusts in the Horn of Africa and the threat that it causes to a country like Tanzania,” said Mr. Kafeero soon after the meeting.

Call for China to join desert locusts control efforts

The FAO Representative recognized the generous support from a range of development partners to a call that FAO made at regional level for dealing with desert locusts and also urged China to join this effort by providing any necessary form of support in order to deal with this menace.

“But the need for preparations for the country was highlighted and in that regard we both agreed that it is important to work together to find ways of strengthening these capacities for surveillance and reporting,” he added.

On her part, Amb. Wang Ke pledged to work closely with FAO in the provision the required expertise. “There are possibilities to have experts working alongside FAO and other partners including the Government to strengthen capacities for surveillance and monitoring, reporting in a timely manner the situation of locusts should there be a big challenge,” she pointed out. 

Collaboration for agriculture development

During the discussions they also explored possibilities of strengthening the general support to agriculture development in the country, the issue of access to markets by farmers particularly on agricultural products produced in the country. Besides, they also talked about the need to strengthen resilience of farmers in the light of the challenges that caused by climate change and other natural disasters.

The Chinese Ambassador strongly emphasized on the opportunities that are available in terms of experts from her country in food and agriculture field who would make a lot of contribution to the discussions for transforming the agriculture sector in the country.

Mr. Kafeero appreciated the enormous support provided to the South South Cooperation through a trust fund that China has established in FAO under the South South Cooperation that has helped a number of countries in accessing technologies from China that are important in transforming their agriculture sector. This has also enabled countries of the South to learn and exchange their knowledge with Chinese counterparts.  

The Sout South Cooperation was emphasized by the FAO Representative as one of the modalities that can bring about learning and knowledge transfer and exchange for the benefit of agriculture in the country.