Farmer reaps benefits of Chinese tech

After completing his university studies in 2017, Nyambo Obed, a young man from Rwanda, benefited from a Chinese farming technology.

While unemployed, he took a training course on agricultural technology (known as Juncao technology) organized by the China-UN Peace and Development Trust Fund.

In five years, Obed became a farmer who employs dozens of people and produces a wide range of products, including food, animal feed and fertilizer

"Juncao technology has not only changed my life but has also made me a champion in my village, helping others out of poverty. Thanks to it, I am now able to support the livelihoods of dozens of families on my own," Obed told Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, when Fu visited his farm in Rwanda.

"Today, I can proudly say that my mushroom business has enabled me to create jobs for over 20 people in my community, helping them lift themselves out of poverty," he told The New Times, a Rwandan news agency.

Juncao technology is an agricultural invention that uses chopped grass as a substrate for growing edible and medicinal mushrooms. Invented by Lin Zhanxi from China's Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in the 1980s, the technology has benefited more than 100 countries, including Rwanda, reported Xinhua News.

Two weeks ago, Fu traveled with senior UN secretariat officials and Lin to visit farms using Juncao technology in Rwanda and Tanzania.

The technology "symbolizes the successful practices explored by the Chinese people in the course of poverty reduction and eradication and epitomizes China's practical actions to support the realization of sustainable development in the Global South," Fu said at a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.

"China is ready to work with the international community to help more developing countries realize independent development," he added.

Juncao technology is used in the priority projects carried out under the China-United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund. Created in 2015, the fund has so far supported about 150 projects in the Global South.

Fu called the fund an "important support for the UN in promoting the sustainable development agenda and maintaining international peace and security".

"As a permanent member of the Security Council and an important member of the Global South, China, along with realizing its own development, has always taken as its responsibility to support the Global South in achieving lasting peace and sustainable development," said Fu.

"Poverty and underdevelopment are major sources of conflict," said Fu, saying that conflict-prevention is a foundational task for poverty-reduction and development. 

"It is important for post-conflict countries and countries in special situations alike to leverage their resource endowment and comparative advantages to tap the momentum and potential for sustainable economic development, so as to embark on the fast track to development," he said.

"To maintain stable economic growth and keep creating jobs and wealth constitute the very foundation for realizing long-term national peace and security," he added.

The path to sustainable development and lasting peace also lies in effective governance, social inclusion and proactive government investment, said Fu.

He reiterated that China urges countries to immediately lift all unilateral sanctions. "The indiscriminate imposition of illegal unilateral sanctions by some countries in violation of the UN Charter and international law not only exacerbate the economic and social difficulties of the countries targeted, but also sow the seeds for new conflicts and instability," he said.