A land of promise must learn to grow without China's aid

The task of making an African country agriculturally self-sufficient is a challenge its trading partner has risen to, reports Yao Jing in Maputo, Mozambique

When he is not working in his garden, rice paddy or in the piggery - shown by the darkness of his skin - most of the time, Liu Housheng ponders one question: how can he create a sustainable model for the development of an agricultural demonstration center?

The China-Mozambique Agricultural Demonstration Center, a Chinese government foreign aid project in Mozambique, is in the final months of a period of technological cooperation, the initial stages of which are due to end in April.

"From then, a seven-year commercial partnership will start. The center will become self-sustaining because the Chinese government may stop its financial support," said Liu, director of the center, who came from Hubei Farm, a provincial agricultural affairs administrative department.

Liu is contemplating how to create profits to maintain the public nature of the aid program when it has to become self-sustaining.

With an investment of 40 million yuan ($6.5 million) for its construction, the 50-hectare project, located 23 kilometers southwest of the capital city of Maputo, was delivered to the Mozambique government in July 2011.

The center receives about 5 million yuan every year from the Chinese government to expand research and development and training for Mozambique's agricultural reform.

Rice production in Mozambique continues to increase and may be sufficient to meet the entire domestic demand between 2017 and 2018, Mozambican Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco said.

According to Pacheco, Mozambique has an average annual consumption of around 600,000 metric tons of rice. In a 2012-13 agricultural drive, rice production increased by 100,000 tons.

In order to overcome hunger, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza urged all participants in the country's agricultural sector to take part in implementing the government's policies for the 2012-13 agricultural year, which envisaged an overall growth of 9.1 percent in agricultural production.

"We have reduced a rice deficit from 300,000 tons to 200,000 tons," said Pacheco, cited by the Mozambican press.

The president announced a 2013-14 agricultural campaign which started in November.

"The key point for Mozambique's cooperation with China is that we hope to attract more investment," said Mozambican Prime Minister Alberto Vaquina.