Excellencies,
Distinguished Invitees,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
At the outset, allow me to sincerely thank the organizers of this 16th edition of the Eco–Agriculture and Food Safety Forum, which runs as a concurrent event to the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE). This time, the fora coincide with celebrations of the 10th anniversary of His Excellency President XI Jinping’s visionary initiative of re-connecting the world, through his Belt & Road Initiative. There is no longer any doubt that the BRI will be a great success to its core goals. I am glad that a year ago, when my President, Her Excellency Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan paid a state visit to China, the two leaders agreed to elevate the already brotherly relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Cooperation at all sectors.
While we already bear witness to its promising pivotal role in deepening the global trade, the theme of this year’s forum of “Deepening Practical Cooperation in Belt and Road Agriculture and Food, Advancing the Construction of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind” could not come at a better time, because the status quo has a huge asymmetry, in both sides of development; abundance and deprivation. The same disparities are evident in Agricultural productivity; for a myriad of reasons, but mainly due to a broad technological divide.
For the future to be a shared one, current constraints that bind the development of some regions of the world must be addressed; through deliberate, targeted, and effective cooperation. We have more reasons for cooperation in Agriculture. The sector has a unique role on prosperity of any society; a role that must neither be over nor under-emphasized. We all know that it is agriculture that act as the bedrock of any country at its early stages of development. It becomes the mainstay of the economy, harboring most of the labour force due to very limited transformation to modern sectors such as manufacturing and services. In many cases, early industrialization also depends on agriculture for raw materials and release of labour. However, perhaps the most important role of agriculture to mankind is the fact that it is the only sector that feeds the mankind and other creatures; directly or indirectly. With the attention is now shifting from food security to food sovereignty, the critical role of modern agriculture needs to be overemphasized.
However, like any industry, the agricultural sector has witnessed an epochal technological advancement, resulting in remarkable gains in efficiency, productivity, industry profitability and environmental sustainability. Innovation has transformed agriculture from a rudimentary one that depended in nature and traditional methods like crop rotation, to a modern one that use state-of-the-art technology. We no longer talk of“precision farming, Agri 3.0”, which was based on computerized information and robotics systems working alongside people in agriculture production or“smart farming or Agriculture 4.0 ” that used autonomous machines, sensor-equipped robots, internet of things, drones and GIS for accurate location and time information. The excitement has now shifted to Agriculture 5.0; the Digital Agriculture. This offers the next generation of farming methods and tools, based on 5G technology, which
China has proudly pioneered, which excels in data collection efficiency, accuracy and timeliness. Modern farmers have seamless decision making on type of soil, what crops to grow, their rotation, and water use through precision irrigation. More importantly, farmers can apply targeted water, fertilizers and pesticides thereby gaining a better control on the production process, lower costs; safer growing conditions; safer foods due to less chemicals and less impact to ecology and environment. Agricultural technology therefore includes temperature and moisture sensors, all related devices, machines, information technology, big data analytics as well as Artificial Intelligence utilized in agriculture value chain.
However, as we know, such advancement in agricultural technology is not evenly registered across the globe. There are regions that are still backward; mostly Sub–Saharan Africa – where farmers still work harder, with very high risks and vulnerabilities yet for very low productivity. So, for the future to be truly shared, we need to swiftly bridge the agricultural technological gap concurrently with our economic transformation efforts. Economic history has taught us that rise in agricultural productivity depends, inter alia, on industrialization and agricultural commercialization. To realize President XI Jinping’s vision of a shared future for mankind, concerted efforts must be directed towards agricultural transformation, industrialization and mutually benefiting development of the Sub-Saharan private sector through crowding-in of local investments with FDI.
We need to apply these lessons for a better-shared future. We have an opportunity to leverage on the cordial Sino-Tanzania relations to cooperate more on effective agricultural modernization and experience sharing. Presidents Xi and President Samia, our two beloved leaders, have already shown us the way; let us roll it into action.
Thankyou – xie xie
The theme of the forum is, ‘Deepening the Belt and Road Cooperation in Agriculture and Food: Jointly Creating a Better Life for Humanity.’ Leaders from the State Administration for Market Regulation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, National Health Commission, General Administration of Customs, as well as leaders from Shanghai, Henan, Hainan, and other provincial governments, representatives of provincial market supervision departments, representatives of relevant United Nations organizations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and embassies of South Africa, the Netherlands, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Tanzania, Senegal, among others, along with over 400 delegates from domestic and international enterprises, participated in the forum. Guests collectively deliberated on agricultural cooperation and food industry development, contributing insights and strategies for the high-quality development of agriculture and food industries in the Belt and Road Initiative, highlighting the role of the forum as a platform for policy interpretation.
2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative and the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum. Over the past decade, the forum has been successfully held for 15 sessions within the framework of the National Food Safety Publicity Week and the China International Import Expo. The forum has solidly promoted high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road, extensively conducted exchanges and cooperation in the agricultural and food industries, played a significant role in the development and safety of agricultural food industries in the countries along the route, and facilitated smooth international trade among the Belt and Road countries.
