A hybrid rice field in Gihanga, Bubanza Province of northwestern Burundi, achieved a bumper harvest this season. Local peasants were bustling in the golden rice fields during the harvest week. 

The bumper harvest was the result of a nine-month effort by Chinese rice experts with Burundian agricultural authorities in an experiment to boost the African country’s food supply. 

The rice thriving in Gihanga’s experimental program is called Chuanxiangyou 506, a high-yield hybrid rice first developed in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province. The rice set a new record for African rice yields in 2016 and was granted official approval from the Burundian government last year, the first ever won by a Chinese hybrid rice strain on the continent. 

Despite the abundance of sunlight and water sources, imported rice makes up as much as 30 percent of Burundi’s food supply. Economists estimated that if the country’s rice output reaches 8 tons per hectare, Burundi could be self-sufficient in crops. 

Gihanga’s experimental field has expanded to 48 hectares from 5 hectares over the past nine months, benefiting 134 local families and 1,072 people with a yield of 10 tons per hectare, a sharp contrast to indigenous rice’s 4 tons per hectare. 

Ndorimana Emmanuel, executive vice minister of the Burundian agricultural ministry said, “It is the first step for Burundi to increase rice production and ensure food security. We trust Chinese rice and Chinese experts.”

Chinese Ambassador to Burundi Li Changlin told reporters that 90 percent of Burundi’s population are engaged in agriculture. The cooperation provides a solution to the most urgent and sensitive issue facing people’s livelihood and has become one of the most important ties between the two countries.

China sent seven experts to offer expertise in agriculture projects that Burundi expects to improve, including rice, soil fertilizer, horticulture, agricultural machinery, storage and processing of agricultural products, aquatic products and animal husbandry.