Nigeria Times

By Wu Yuehui, People’s Daily

The “China Sky Eye,” also known as China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), recently discovered the largest atomic cloud in the universe to date, which is roughly 2 million light-years wide.

Scientists found the cloud, which is 20 times larger than the Milky Way galaxy, by pointing the FAST in southwest China’s Guizhou province in the direction of a galaxy group called Stephan’s Quintet, which is about 290 million light-years away.

The finding was published in the international journal Nature on Oct. 19.

The observation of gas structures is a very important study in astrophysics, because stars in the universe are born from the accumulation of clouds of atomic gases.

The FAST is an excellent tool to find the interaction between galaxies as well as the origins of the gases between them, which have always been important topics in astronomy.

The FAST is the world’s largest single-dish and most sensitive radio telescope. It is able to detect faint radiation emitted by thin dispersed atomic gases that are far away from the centers of galaxies.

Since the telescope was put into use in September 2016, it has generated scientific outcomes in multiple fields, deepening mankind’s understanding of the universe.

On March. 31, 2021, the FAST officially opened to the world. Astronomers worldwide could submit their applications for observations. The observations by international users began four months later.

The discovery this time was accomplished by Xu Cong, a researcher from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an experienced international team led by him which consisted of top experts in infrared astronomy and radio astronomy.

The team applied for observations immediately after the FAST opened to the world.

Noise is inevitable in astronomical observations. For better performance, technicians worked to improve the FAST’s sensitivity and suppress the noise. The telescope reached its optimal state last October and found the thin gases around Stephan’s Quintet.

Cheng Cheng, a member of the team and a researcher from the National Astronomical Observatories, told People’s Daily that the observation took only around a month, with an exposure time totaling 22 hours.

“It was faster than our expectation,” Cheng said.

The latest discovery showed that a mammoth low-density gaseous structure existed in a relatively far location from the center of Stephan’s Quintet. It indicated that more massive low-density atomic gas structures could be hiding in the universe, Xu said.

However, the discovery challenges the current understanding of how such low-density hydrogen gas can survive ionization by the intergalactic ultraviolet background on such a long time scale, Xu added.

The FAST has opened a new window to research the origins of celestial objects in the universe. With the assistance of the FAST, Chinese scientists will join hands with the international scientific community for the exploration of the vast universe, and thus create a better future for mankind.

By Xu Jiawei

Express delivery services now cover almost all townships and more than 80 percent of administrative villages in China, according to statistics recently issued by the State Post Bureau (SPB).

The expanded internet coverage has improved the penetration of express delivery services in rural areas and also helped farm produce grab a larger share in the urban market.

In recent years, new models have been tested across China to better introduce express delivery services to rural areas.

In Luotian county, in central China’s Hubei province, a rural logistics tech firm has been established to integrate resources and lower shipping fares for deliveries within the county. So far, the firm has set up 10 township-level and over 200 village-level service stations, which bring quality logistics services to villagers.

In Altay, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has employed shuttle buses to ship express delivery parcels to rural residents, which makes deliveries faster and more convenient.

As the per capita disposable income of the Chinese people rises, rural residents in China have a stronger consumption ability, and the constantly improving rural logistics system is exactly releasing the huge consumption potential in rural areas.

According to SPB data, there were over 100 million packages delivered to rural areas on a daily basis in the first half of 2022.

“Commodities are coming to us faster after we have an express delivery service station in our village,” said a rural resident surnamed Tan in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

According to him, online shopping was costly logistics-wise and the deliveries often took a long time in the past – there was no free shipping and it took him around a week to receive the commodities.

Now, with an express delivery service station in his village, some commodities he buys online can arrive in just a couple of days.

Apart from faster deliveries, the better-built rural logistics system also enables rural residents to buy more quality products without even stepping out of their houses.

“Our house was renovated this year, and we bought most of the furniture and appliances online,” said Zheng Zhihao, who lives in rural Shandong province in east China. He noted that there were more commodities on e-commerce platforms than in brick-and-mortar shops in the township, and the commodities were competitively priced online and could be delivered home.

Extending express delivery services to the countryside not only solves the “last kilometer” problem for rural consumption but also builds a solid first step for farm produce to hit the urban market.

Thanks to the better-built rural logistics system, more and more high-quality agricultural products are brought to urban consumers, which fosters a long-term and stable supply-demand relationship and significantly improves the income of farmers.

Fenghuang and Dade, two villages in Xichang, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture of southwest China’s Sichuan province, have planted over 4,000 mu (267 hectares) of grapes and pomegranates, respectively. They both ship hundreds of thousands of kilograms of fruit to a dozen  provinces across China through express delivery services, including Zhejiang and Guangdong.

“I have sold 32,000 orders of pomegranates this year on short video platform Douyin alone,” said Zheng Peng, a fruit farmer from Fenghuang village, adding that e-commerce and logistics services play a significant role in expanding sales channels of farm produce and improving fruit farmers’ income.

Besides, warehousing and cold-chain logistics services are also extending to the countryside, solving a series of problems that once constrained the large-scale development of rural e-commerce, such as poor food preservation and high transport losses.

By He Yin, People’s Daily
China has written a number of splendid stories in cooperation with its partners on the road to green development in the new era, making important contributions to promoting the global ecological progress.
With its rich experiences in combating desertification, the country has built a “green Great Wall” in Africa that enhances the ability of African countries to resist the southward movement of the Saharan margin.
Chinese enterprises have built a photovoltaic power station in Bahawalpur district, Punjab province of Pakistan, which significantly alleviates local power shortage with clean energy.
Besides, China’s new energy equipment and intelligent digital systems are employed in the Vientiane Saysettha Development Zone, Laos, to assist local low-carbon development.
China sees ecological progress as a priority in its overall development strategy, and has paved a positive path to development that ensures increased production, higher living standards, and healthy ecosystems. “Green” is more and more becoming a defining feature of China’s high-quality development.
Over the past 10 years, the country has seen a 34.4 percent drop in its carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP, and the share of coal in its primary energy consumption has decreased from 68.5 percent to 56 percent.
Today, China ranks first in the world in terms of the development and utilization of renewable energy, as well as the production and sales of new energy vehicles.
With a forest coverage rate standing at 24.02 percent, the country has contributed a quarter of the world’s new forest area in the past decade.
Besides, China has launched the world’s largest carbon trading market.
China is firmly committed to putting multilateralism into action and promoting a fair and equitable system of global environmental governance for win-win cooperation.
It has raised a series of important initiatives and proposals on enhancing global environmental governance at multilateral meetings, including the Paris Conference on Climate Change（COP21）, the Climate Ambition Summit, the Leaders Summit on Climate, the United Nations Summit on Biodiversity, and the Leaders’ Summit of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. These initiatives and proposals encourage parties relevant to safeguard multilateral consensuses, focus on practical cooperation and accelerate green transition, injecting confidence and impetus into the building of a clean and beautiful world.

China was the first to issue a national plan on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It comprehensively implements the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and is the largest contributor to the core budget of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its protocols.
China strives to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. It is determined to make the biggest reduction in carbon emission intensity in the world and move from carbon peaking to carbon neutrality in the shortest time span in world history, which is hailed as a milestone in international environmental policy making.
Human beings share a common future in the face of the challenges presented by global climate change, and no country can make itself immune from the impact. As people in China often say, “It is more important to show people how to fish than just giving them fish.” China has actively helped developing countries improve their capability of green development.
To promote green transition of economic and social development for all parties relevant, China has set up a South-South cooperation fund on climate change and a Kunming Biodiversity Fund. It provides support for Pacific island countries in coping with climate change, incorporates green development in the “nine programs” it jointly develops with Africa, and lists climate change and green development as important areas of cooperation under the framework of the Global Development Initiative.
China has also made ecological cooperation a key part of Belt and Road cooperation. A number of green action initiatives have been launched, covering wide-ranging efforts in green infrastructure, green energy, green transport and green finance, to bring enduring benefits to the people of all Belt and Road partner countries.
The harmonious coexistence between human and nature is one of the features of Chinese modernization. On the new journey, China will accelerate the transformation for green development, advance prevention and control of environmental pollution, improve the diversity, stability and sustainability of ecological systems, and steadily march toward its carbon peak and neutrality goals, so as to build China into a beautiful country.
The country will also take up its lofty responsibility for the entire human civilization, to actively cope with climate change, build a community of life for man and nature, foster a new relationship where man and nature can both prosper and live in harmony, and make new contributions to building a clean and beautiful world.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

The report delivered by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on behalf of the 19th CPC Central Committee, to the 20th CPC National Congress, is seen by the international community as sign of China keeping pursuing its dreams and win-win cooperation with the rest of the world.

It is believed that the 20th CPC National Congress not only is significant to China, but also places important impacts on the rest of the world.

Foreign media organizations reported that Chinese modernization will shed light on other countries, and the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, which has been once again highlighted in Xi’s report this time, is crucial to global development.

They said the congress offers important political guidance for China’s development on the country’s journey toward greater prosperity, and draws a new blueprint for a better future to be jointly created by the Chinese people and the people in the rest of the world.

The world has further recognized that China’s development is a great cause that advances human progress. Since socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era in 2012, the cause of the Party and the country has scored historic achievements and gone through historic changes. The success jointly created by the CPC and the Chinese people has a far-reaching impact on the world.

From multiple perspectives, the international community analyzed China’s remarkable achievements made in the new era, to learn the country’s experiences in overcoming development challenges and realizing vitalization.

Foreign media organizations said that the CPC, with a responsible attitude, has led the country to achieve sustainable development, which demonstrates its political vision and wisdom. They believe socialism with Chinese characteristics and the Chinese governance system are a role model in seeking happiness for the people. Facts prove that, the cause of the CPC benefits not only the Chinese people, but also the world at large.

The Russian International Affairs Council said in an article published on its website that China’s economic miracle sets a good example for the countries that are still in search of their own development paths.

The global attention received by the congress indicated that the international community has further enhanced its confidence in China building itself into a modern socialist country in all respects.

China today is more than the country itself; it is very much a part of the world. The report delivered at the 20th CPC National Congress planed the development targets and major policies of the Party and the country in the next five years and even a longer period of time to come, and announced to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

The international community said that the decisions made at the congress have displayed a clear vision for China’s next-phase development, and the CPC will keep leading the Chinese people to march forward along the path to happiness and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is believed that China is more confident now in creating even bigger miracles.

China, on a new journey to build itself into a modern socialist country in all respects, is expected to create certainty and stability for the fast-changing world and expand the areas of mutually beneficial cooperation between itself and other countries.

The international community has further recognized China’s firm determination to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Changes of the world, of our times and of history are unfolding today in ways like never before. The world has once again stood at a crossroads, with its future course dependent on the choices of people of all countries.

Stressing that the world is grappling with unprecedented challenges, Xi said the CPC has consistently called on the people of the world to grasp and shape the future and destiny of humanity.

“When all countries pursue the cause of common good, we can live in harmony, engage in cooperation for mutual benefit and join hands to create a brighter future for the world,” he added.

China is always committed to the purpose of its foreign policy of safeguarding world peace and promoting common development, and to building a community with a shared future for mankind, which fully mirrors the Party’s broad mind and sense of responsibility.

The international observers said the 20th CPC National Congress will guide China to keep safeguarding world peace and make the international order more just, and unite all progressive forces around the world to cope with major issues such as the wealth gap and climate change.

It is believed that the CPC will lead China toward another milestone and keep contributing to world peace, progress and prosperity. Building a community with a shared future for mankind is a greater vision that benefits the world with the Chinese Dream.

The CPC strives for both the wellbeing of the Chinese people and progress of the entire humankind. On the new journey ahead, the Party will keep expanding its global vision, obtain a keen understanding of the trends of human progress, and actively respond to the concerns of the people from all countries, so as to contribute to solving the common issues facing mankind. It will learn from all outstanding civilizations with a broad mind to build a better world.

China will steer the giant ship of its great rejuvenation, braving winds and waves, toward its destination. It will make even greater contributions to human progress.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, stressed the significance of promoting exchanges and mutual learning in the report he delivered to the 20th CPC National Congress.

Stressing that human society faces unprecedented challenges, Xi called upon all countries to hold dear humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, and promote mutual understanding and forge closer bonds with other peoples.

He urged closer communication and dialogue between different civilizations so as to increase mutual understanding and mutual recognition. “All countries should respect different countries’ and peoples’ exploration of their own development paths, remove civilization misunderstandings through cultural exchanges, avoid civilization clashes by learning from each other, and replace civilization supremacy with coexistence of civilizations”, he added.

Diversity is what defines our world and makes human civilization fascinating. All civilizations are rooted in their unique cultural environment. Each embodies the wisdom and vision of a country or nation, and each is valuable for being unique.

The attitude towards different civilizations concerns the progress of human civilization and the peaceful development of the world.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Xi has made a series of important proposals on exchanges and mutual learning to build a harmonious world and advance human progress.

He said China is willing to work with the international community to promote equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness among civilizations, which demonstrated the unique and charming wisdom of China and its broad-mindedness.

Having gone through over 5,000 years of vicissitudes, the Chinese civilization has always kept to its original root. As the unique cultural identity of the Chinese nation, it contains some most profound pursuits of the Chinese nation and provides it with abundant nourishment for existence and development.

China, in the new era, is experiencing the greatest and most unique practical innovation in human history.

The CPC has led the people in pioneering a uniquely Chinese path to modernization, creating a new model for human advancement. Besides, China, pursuing a better future shared by all people around the world, champions the common values of humanity and the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The country calls on the world to enhance exchanges and mutual learning, and strengthen popular support for jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.

China believes countries need to respect each other and treat each other as equals, uphold the beauty of each civilization and the diversity of civilizations in the world, stay open and inclusive, draw on each other’s strengths, advance with the times and stress innovation-driven development.

International analysts commented that China, championing the peaceful coexistence of civilizations, has become a catalyst for global exchanges.

Though born on the soil of China, the Chinese civilization has come to its present form through constant exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations.

China in the new era is always committed to promoting exchanges and mutual learning, injecting important impetus into the prosperity and development of cultural diversity.

The country held the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, an important platform for exchanges and mutual learning among Asian countries and even in the global context.

It calls on the world to carry forward the Silk Road Spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, to build the Belt and Road into a road connecting different civilizations.

China held the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting and the CPC and World Political Parties Summit, turning diversity and differences between countries into development momentum.

It also promotes the building of a community of cultural exchanges within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization framework, and upgrades BRICS cooperation under the three pillars of political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges

These Chinese schemes aim to seek harmony and coexistence, expand the cultural connotation of international cooperation, and offer wisdom for mankind’s future development.

Klara Khafizova, Academician of the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences and renowned sinologist noted that exchanges and mutual learning will become more frequent under the guidance of China, and people will get closer.

The world today is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, and it has entered a new phase of uncertainty and transformation. The deficit in peace, development, security, and governance is growing. The world must promote exchanges and mutual learning, dispel estrangement, prejudice and hatred, spread the seeds for the idea of peace and foster a lush tree of common development, so as to keep the wheels of history rolling toward a bright future.

Each civilization is distinctive, and no one is superior to others, Those who fan up the ideas of “superiority of a civilization,” “clash of civilizations” or “conflicts between institutions” will never be supported. Countries need to be broad-minded and strive to remove all barriers to cultural exchanges, and be inclusive and always seek nourishment from other civilizations, so as to promote the common development of civilizations through exchanges and mutual learning and offer ceaseless impetus for coping with global challenges and promoting human progress.

China will open its arms wider to embrace the world and contribute the dynamic achievements of Chinese civilization to a better world in the future.

It will unswervingly promote exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations as a bridge of friendship, a driving force for human progress, and a bond for world peace, and write a new chapter of peaceful development of the world.

By Yu Sinan, People’s Daily

The scale of China’s core artificial intelligence (AI) industry has exceeded 400 billion yuan ($55.2 billion), and the number of related enterprises stands at more than 3,000.

Thanks to the booming demand brought about by massive data processing, as well as the testing ground provided by large numbers of application scenarios, China is now a global leader in terms of computer vision and speech recognition.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with other five relevant departments, recently issued a guidance on accelerating high-level AI applications to promote high-quality development. It aims to build major application scenarios and expand the application of AI technology, including conducting high-level scientific research.

Today, China is seeing rapid development in the AI sector, enjoying advantages in data acquisition, experiment prediction and result analysis. The AI technology has been employed in a number of disciplines such as life science, math, chemistry and space science.

The rich application scenarios are also in turn driving the development of AI technology, making industries more intelligent.

AI is widely employed in life science, especially protein structure prediction.

The structures of proteins are three-dimensional. The primary structure of a protein consists of a sequence of a chain of amino acids. The three-dimensional structure determines the functions of a protein in a cell. Many diseases derive from the abnormal structure of important proteins.

Therefore, only by drawing a “three-dimensional map” of important proteins can drug targets be located, which helps the development of effective medicines.

Traditionally, scientists observe protein structures through cryo-electron microscopy, X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging, which are time-consuming, expensive and difficult. That’s why successful observation cases through traditional methods are rare.

However, amino acid sequencing is much easier. Predicting protein structure from the primary structure of proteins is exactly what AI is good at.

As the amount of biological data has surged and AI technology has evolved over recent years, scientists have made prediction models more precise.

For instance, the AI program AlphaFold caused a sensation in December 2020, when it dominated a protein structure prediction contest – its predictions were on par with experimentally determined structures.

It is reported that researchers have predicted the structures of over 200 million proteins of around a million species through AI technology, almost all proteins that have been recorded by scientists.

These structures will have a huge impact on structural biology and may even trigger a paradigm change in life science studies and improve mankind’s understanding of life.

The demand of the bio-pharmaceutical industry is an important driving force that pushes the application of AI in life science studies. It is learned that the number of medicines developed per $1 billion of investment has been on a constant decrease. The development of new medicines is becoming more difficult and takes longer. New methods of bio-pharmaceutical development are needed, and the expectations are high for AI.

Earlier this year, the National Supercomputing Center of China in Chengdu, Sichuan province, offered theoretical basis for cultivating high-yielding and high-quality wheat through a protein prediction model.

Targeted treatment is another area where AI is employed. Through machine learning, AI is able to decode people’s immune systems and the complex immunity mechanisms of some diseases, thus helping people understand diseases and develop medicines and therapies in a more efficient and targeted manner.

Experts said that it’s necessary to give full play to China’s advantages in its rich application scenarios of AI to promote higher-level development of AI. Building major application scenarios centering on high-level scientific researches will promote better development of Chinese AI technology and better drive China’s high-quality development.

By Wang Piyi

China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) industry has risen and grown strong in the past decade, becoming an important force driving the global upgrading of the automobile industry and a new signboard of China’s intelligent manufacturing.

According to statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), nearly 4.57 million NEVs were sold in China in the first three quarters this year, surging 110 percent year on year and exceeding the whole-year figure in 2021.

China has ranked first in the world in terms of NEV production and sales for seven consecutive years. Last year, over half of the world’s total sales of NEVs came from China.

Xin Guobin, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said China has worked vigorously to develop the NEV industry, having issued more than 600 support policies at both central and local levels, covering technological innovation, application, safety supervision and other areas.

The country has established innovation centers for the development of power batteries and connected vehicles. The country has also supported enterprises in the industrial chain to expand R&D input and create new business models, generating strong internal impetus for NEV development.

In an attempt to make driving safer, smarter and more comfortable, Chinese carmakers have integrated new information technologies with automobile manufacturing, such as facial recognition-enabled door unlocking, driver assistant systems, and automatic warning systems, making driver-vehicle-traffic interactionpossible.

With such cross-border integration, NEVs are not merely a transportation tool but an intelligent mobile space.

Expert said that China’s NEV manufacturers’ exploration in intelligent and digital technologies has activated the industrial chain. These enterprises are blazing a trail to turn traditional manufacturing into service-oriented manufacturing, making individualized and customized products to be used in different scenarios.

Thanks to their strong capabilities in technological innovation, Chinese NEV manufacturers have witnessed rapid growth in vehicle exports and have gained better and better reputations from the global market. The CAAM recently said that 340,000 NEVs were exported in the first eight months of this year, up 97.4 percent year on year.

Chinese vehicles entered foreign markets years ago with their low prices, winning a pretty good share in Latin America and Africa. Today, China’s NEV exports are further expanding.

Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the CAAM, noted that nearly 10 Chinese carmakers are selling NEVs to Europe, and Chinese electric vehicles now account for 10 percent of those sold in European countries.

According to the China Automobile Dealers Association, Europe is a major export destination of NEVs for Chinese auto manufacturers. Last year, 49 percent of China’s NEV exports went to Europe.

Apart from that, China’s electric vehicles (EV) are moving to the higher end of the overseas market. Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO recently announced plans to extend its services to Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. The company entered Norway a year ago, and its EV model ES8 maintained the bestselling 6-seater and 7-seater SUVs in Oslo in the first nine months of this year.

William Li, founder and chairman of NIO, told People’s Daily in an interview that China is a world-class manufacturer when it comes to “intelligent,” “electric” and “automobiles.” The country is competitive in terms of its supply chain and human resources, he added.

According to Li, NIO will hit more high-end markets in developed countries and bring more intelligent and green experiences to users.

The automobile industry faces a huge opportunity of industrial upgrading in the era of 5G. Relevant enterprises will compete in making electric, connected and intelligent vehicles. On a new “race track,” Chinese NEV manufacturers are constantly improving product performance, intelligent technologies and comprehensive services, upgrading “made in China” to “created in China” and to “intelligent manufacturing in China.”

By Yu Yichun, Shi Yuanhao, People’s Daily

On a day in late June, some villagers in Makuyu village, Morogoro region of Tanzania, gathered around a cauldron, stirring the boiling soy bean milk in it. The aroma floated in the air, mixed with the smell of the crackling firewood.

Villager Ali was in the crowd, learning how to make soybean milk and other bean products. Many senior villagers and children were holding plastic bottles and cups in their hands, waiting to have a taste of the “Chinese drink.”

Ali took a sip and said with a smile, “Today is like a festival.”

A maize-corn intercropping program was launched in Makuyu and other three villages last October by China Agricultural University (CAU) and the government of the Morogoro region.

The program, at its initial stage, selected 100 demonstration households to learn intercropping techniques, with a follow-up plan to teach villagers to make soybean products upon harvest.

During a promotional activity of the program held in Makuyu village, Ali, for the first time, learned that soybean can not only enhance nutrient intake but also improve villagers’ income.

“It’s simple and practical, just like other techniques introduced by Chinese experts before,” he said.

Being confident in the program, the man planted around six mu (4,000 square meters) of soybeans. As of the end of February this year, the 100 households had planted a total of 420 mu of soybeans.

The harvest season for soybeans came in June. Seeing bags of harvested soybeans, Ali felt joy and happiness.

“I was worried about the crop because the dry season this year was a little bit longer than usual. It was beyond my expectation that the yield was nearly 500 kilograms,” Ali told People’s Daily.

With the assistance of Chinese experts, Makuyu village has undergone drastic changes over the past decade, which reinforced the determination of Ali and his fellow villagers to get rid of poverty.

In 2011, an agricultural program aimed at poverty reduction was launched by CAU, the government of the Morogoro region and Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture. It has promoted the compact planting techniques of maize in 10 villages and trained over 1,000 local households and some 40 agricultural technicians.

Tanzanian farmers measure the weight of crops in the unit of “bags.” A bag of maize weighs approximately 100 kilograms.

“In the past, we normally harvested seven or eight bags of maize from each acre. After Chinese experts taught us row spacing and the use of organic fertilizers, the yield has been lifted to 10 to 16 bags per acre,” Ali said.

The techniques taught by Chinese experts have helped improve the livelihood of Ali’s family, who have moved into a big house with eight rooms.

However, rising production means faster consumption of soil fertility. Li Xiaoyun, a docent with CAU in charge of the agricultural program, proposed to plant soybeans to recover and maintain soil fertility after ruminating on the issue.

The Morogoro region is one of the five major soybean production areas in Tanzania. However, the local soybean industry remained gloomy due to the extensive models of local agriculture and a lack of processing techniques for soybean products.

“Planting soybeans is profitable. The crop is able to fix nitrogen and make the soil more fertile. More importantly, as a nutritious crop, soybean is a great supplement to the maze-dominated local dietary habit which causes nutrient deficiency,” Li said.

Under the efforts of Li and his team, the maize-corn intercropping program kicked off.

Following the harvest of soybeans, Li and his team started teaching locals to make soybean milk.

Leah John Mwingira, a local agricultural official of Mvomero District Council of the Morogoro region, found that the Chinese drink was very popular among the locals.

“The warm drink is unexpectedly tasty. I like it,” said Obama, a 70-year-old villager from Mtegowasimba village. He was among the first to join the soybean program in the village, and has decided to plant another 10 mu of soybeans the next year.

“Soybean planting is not new in my village, but this is the first time for me to know that soybeans can be made into so many products,” said Nyambita Magoma, executive officer of Makuyu village.

“The villagers added local spice to the soybean milk, and are planning to make soybean coffee and soybean vegan meat,” he said, adding that soybean planting has brought new hopes to the locals.