Chinese government has called for increased agriculture cooperation with Zambia.

Yang Youming, Chinese Ambassador to Zambia speaking at this year’s China-African Agriculture Cooperation and Development Summit, organized by the China Agriculture Film and Television Center and Global Max Media Group in collaboration with the Agricultural and Commercial Society of Zambia said the two countries can complement each other in the agricultural sector.

“I believe that, with the joint efforts of China and Zambia, the agricultural cooperation between our two countries will yield more extensive and fruitful results,” Youming said.

Youming said will continue to encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in Zambia’s agricultural sector and seize the opportunities to exploit the country’s vast potential in the sector.

He cited the establishment of the China Aid-Zambia Agricultural Technical Demonstration Center in 2012, which is one of the 14 demonstration centers in Africa, as one of the best cooperation areas in the sector.

Since its establishment, over 1,000 Zambian agricultural technicians have been trained at the center by Chinese experts while the center has also carried out fruitful cooperation with the country’s institutes such as the University of Zambia (UNZA) as well as other agricultural research institutions.

He further revealed that China has provided concessional loans for the development of Zambia’s agricultural infrastructure projects such as helping the government build nine large-scale silos, which have alleviated the storage shortage, a project to sink over 1,000 boreholes in rural areas while discussions for the investment in three China-aided large-scale milling have been concluded and actual construction is expected to start soon.

About 500 Zambians specialized in agricultural sector have so far received training in China.

Dora Siliya, Minister of Agriculture said Zambia swill remain indebted to China over its unparalleled support to development.