China-Africa Cooperation: Cultivating hope and future in Gambia's rice fields

"It is a great honor to have met Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Changsha," said Musa Darboe, a farmer from The Gambia in Africa, as he walked out of the Changsha International Conference Center with a beaming smile at around 8 p.m. on June 11.

Wang Yi told Musa that his success story was another fine example of China - Africa friendship and a vivid illustration of China - Africa cooperation. An important focus of China's friendship with African countries was to seek the well - being of ordinary African people. China would continue to adhere to the principle of pursuing the greater good and shared interest put forward by President Xi Jinping, practice the people - centered concept in Africa, and do more good deeds and practical things for the African people.

Wang Yi said that the more success stories like Musa's there were, the more the power of China - Africa friendship could be gathered, and the more promising the independent development of Africa and the better life of the African people would be.

A Life Transformed by a Single Seed

The 47-year-old Musa is the owner of Mano Farm in The Gambia. He was once a telecommunications engineer in the United States with an annual salary of $100,000, but his life took a dramatic turn because of a single seed.

In 2019, following his father's passing, Musa returned to The Gambia to inherit the family farm, only to face immense challenges. At the time, The Gambia relied on imports for 80% of its rice, and traditional farming methods were inefficient. With no technical guidance, he cultivated just three hectares of rice in his first year, resorting to primitive methods like "threshing rice with oil drums.""The harvest season coincided with the rainy season, and much of the rice was soaked and sprouted, resulting in heavy losses," he recalled.

Just as he was about to give up, Huang Zhi, a Chinese agricultural expert leading the Longping Hi-Tech team, arrived in The Gambia.

Driven by a desire to alleviate his hometown's food shortages, Musa became an overseas student of the late Academician Yuan Longping and traveled to Hunan multiple times to learn advanced agricultural techniques.

When the first rice transplanter arrived at his farm, Musa marveled, "This is a miracle my father's generation could never have imagined."

With the support of Chinese agricultural experts, Musa's farm expanded from three hectares to a 100-hectare core area in just five years, serving surrounding farmers across 2,000 hectares. Production shifted from manual threshing to full mechanization, with yields soaring to an average of about seven tons per hectare—two to three times the local average.

"I Want to Walk the Ridges Yuan Once Walked"

In July 2024, a Hunan Daily reporting team arrived in The Gambia for a multimedia project titled Friends & Partners. Musa presented them with a bag of rice, asking the journalists to "take it back to Hunan and offer it to Academician Yuan Longping."

In March of this year, at a press conference during the Third Session of the 14th National People's Congress, Foreign Minister Wang Yi cited Musa's story to illustrate China-Africa cooperation: "Last year, a Gambian farmer sent his homegrown rice to Hunan as a tribute to Mr. Yuan Longping. Thanks to China's hybrid rice, they have bid farewell to hunger and embraced hope. Stories like this are happening almost every day across Africa."

May 22 marked the fourth anniversary of Yuan Longping's passing. From afar in Africa, Musa posted a tribute video on social media, expressing his wish: "I hope to set foot on Hunan soil again, to walk the ridges Yuan once walked, and to touch the rice stalks he once held."

On June 10, Musa finally realized his dream. Arriving in Hunan to attend the fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, the Gambian farmer carried a bag of his homegrown rice across mountains and seas. On the morning of June 11, he paid a special visit to Yuan Longping's tomb to honor his memory.

Empowering Gambian Youth in the Fields of the Future

"At the reception for the 25th anniversary of FOCAC and the fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, I expressed my gratitude to Foreign Minister Wang Yi and shared how Longping Hi-Tech experts helped us mechanize production, increase rice yields, and completely rewrite The Gambia's rice farming history," Musa told reporters. "Minister Wang praised my story as 'another beautiful chapter in China-Africa friendship.'"

Musa said, "I must give my deepest thanks to China and to Academician Yuan Longping!"

"In the past, young people in my hometown avoided farming at all costs. But the roar of machinery changed everything. When they saw that sitting in a tractor cab could do the work of dozens, their eyes lit up. Now, they’re competing to learn how to operate and repair farm machinery—farming is becoming cool," Musa described the scene of local youth crowding around Chinese technicians to learn agricultural machinery. "That’s the warmest embrace of modern farming."

"If China-Gambia cooperation deepens, we can absolutely change the fate of more Gambian youth, helping them find dignity and a future in the rice fields," Musa said.

He has a vision for the future: "We aim to develop more land, targeting 10,000 hectares of fully mechanized farming. This is the 'golden key' to achieving national food self-sufficiency and securing our food future."