Updated: 2014-04-18 09:53
By Wang Chao and Andrew Moody (China Daily Africa)
Peng Dajun has developed a comprehensive curriculum for training Ethiopians in agriculture. Wang Chao / China Daily
Peng Dajun is sowing his crops in Ethiopia, and a good harvest looks assured
When Peng Dajun wandered into a village in northern Ethiopia nine years ago, an excited voice called from behind him, "Chinese teacher". Turning around, a smiling teenager told him his brother had once taken a picture of Peng, his teacher in a farming class.
"It was the first photo anyone had ever taken in the village, so everyone in the village knew my face," Peng says.
Peng came to Ethiopia 14 years ago when an agricultural, technical, vocational education and training program had just been set up in Addis Ababa. His son was still in primary school in Changde, Hunan province, Central China, and when Peng returned last year his son had graduated from university.
These days Peng''s hair is graying, and his job has changed with the times. He sees fewer blackboards than he used to, working as an adviser with the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture.
However, that does not mean he is office-bound. In fact, his routine now has him shuttling between office, classrooms and demonstration fields.
But with his tanned skin, deep wrinkles and a seemingly permanent sun-soaked smile, it is in the fields that he looks particularly at home.
Nearly 20 years ago, Peng was a researcher at the agricultural research center in Hunan province, where he was a specialist in hybrid rice. When he was posted to Ethiopia on a World Bank project in 2000, he did not even know what he would be required to do, he says.
In the intervening years he has developed a comprehensive curriculum for training Ethiopians in agriculture that includes plant science, forestry and environmental protection, soil and water conservation. Another area covered is animal science, which Peng added later when he realized how important raising cattle and goats is to Ethiopians.
In China, the staple of Peng''s working life was rice, and when he arrived in Ethiopia, every plant he saw was alien to him.
For Ethiopians, a staple food is injera, a sourdough bread made from a grass called teff. In fact Ethiopians love it so much that usually Chinese companies in the country have to set up two canteens, one for Chinese workers, where rice and steamed buns are served, and another where locals are served injela.
"If they don''t get their injela they go on strike," a manager from a Chinese industrial park in Addis Ababa jokes.
Peng has learned a lot about local crops through his work in the fields and from books, and now barley, maize, teff and wheat are as familiar as old friends.
When the educational program was set up under the aegis of the World Bank, teachers came from China, India and Kenya, each sending 30 to 40 teachers a year. But the numbers gradually shrank, and in 2011 it was transformed into a project funded by the Chinese government alone. There are now 19 instructors, 18 of them Chinese and one Indian.
The program operates in 25 colleges, five belonging to the federal government and the others belonging to state governments. Students have to finish 10th grade before they are eligible to be admitted into the program. The tuition fee is nominal: 200 to 500 birrs ($10 to $25) every academic year.
"It''s hard to gauge what kind of impact this program has had on Ethiopia, because it''s a training program; but given time, say, 50 years, I''ll bet the overall agricultural level in this country will have greatly improved," Peng says.
Peng often recalls what he saw in his first year in the country. "Before the rainy season, farmers set fires to burn down the previous year''s crops and grass, and distributed seeds at random. Once that was done, the only thing left was to wait until after the rainy season when they harvested whatever happened to pop up out of the soil.
"Now, in big farming areas, farmers have learned to plant in rows, to thin out seedlings, and to use fertilizers at certain times. So yields have improved."
Of course, many could argue that adhering to primitive ways of farming by respecting the seasons and eschewing fertilizers or pesticide is thoroughly laudable, and Peng is sympathetic to it.
"But the thing is, Ethiopia has not yet reached that stage of living organically, as in some developed countries. Many people still suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and food security is the fundamental thing for the country, so we need to raise productivity first."
Just before Peng talked to China Daily, workers had unloaded textbooks from a truck and piled them high behind the desk in his office. He picked one up and said excitedly: "This represents the efforts of Chinese teachers over 14 years. Once these colleges had no textbooks, and teachers had to write everything on blackboards.
"The Ethiopian government is so delighted we have compiled these books that it wants to expand their use from the original three schools to all 25 colleges at which the agricultural training program is run."
Those who do particularly well during training are granted certificates to teach in local farming training centers. Over the years, the Chinese have turned out more than 15,000 local tutors.
The program is now so well known among Ethiopian farmers that when locals are asked what they think of Chinese in the country, their answer comes down to three things: "Made in China", "China road" and "Chinese teachers".
Peng says that once when he went into a shop out in the country, the owner said enthusiastically: "You: Made in China."
On another occasion he was traveling to a tourist site south of Addis Ababa. It was sunset, but Peng had yet to find a hotel for the night. As he wondered along a dusty road, a dilapidated mini-bus pulled up, the driver craned his head out the window and shouted, "Mr Peng".
The driver told a bewildered Peng: "I was in your class, but you expelled me because I got an F in one course."
Peng says it was an awkward moment, but he realized how rewarding his work could be.
"The locals are very engaged in learning about modern farming technology, and I know they are eager to learn. They are very open-minded."
Peng recalls the words from a speech to Chinese instructors in 2003 by the current Ethiopian president, Mulatu Teshome, who was then minister of agriculture: "Chinese agricultural teachers are the delegates of China-Ethiopia friendship and a bridge as the two countries work together."
Peng says: "That has really encouraged us to carry on, making progress step by step. Ethiopia''s GDP has grown by 8.7 percent over the past five years, and I hope this program can help more families to eat well and live well."
Teachers instruct famers at a local property. Provided to China Daily