China sends 500 farming experts to Nigeria

A first group of 23 Chinese agricultural experts has arrived in Nigeria's northern Kano state to support farming activities under a four-year programme with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). China will send 20 experts and at least 500 field technicians with expertise in various fields of agriculture to spend three years in Nigeria. They will work alongside Nigerian experts in 109 sites all over the country and live in the farming communities to which they are assigned. The experts will share experience and expertise with their Nigerian colleagues under the South-South Cooperation initiative, within the framework of the Nigeria's National Special Programme for Food Security (NSPFS),FAO said in a statement. The programme, launched in January 2002, aims to improve food security and alleviate rural poverty. It provides a framework for projects that include water control, animal disease and pest control, the marketing of agricultural commodities and food stock management. China has successfully implemented similar programmes in partnership with FAO in Ethiopia, Mauritania, Bangladesh, Mali and Ghana. More details are available at: www.fao.org