In The Gambia, where rice is a staple of daily life, a quiet agricultural transformation is taking root, driven by technological innovations and international cooperation, helping farmers achieve record-breaking yields and reduce reliance on imports.

CHANGSHA/BANJUL, March 22 (Xinhua) -- In The Gambia, where rice is a staple of daily life, a quiet agricultural transformation is taking root, driven by technological innovations and international cooperation, helping farmers achieve record-breaking yields and reduce reliance on imports.

The West African country's agricultural productivity has been steadily increasing, with rice production surpassing 48,000 tonnes in 2024, marking a historic high.

"We have never achieved such a yield before, which shows that Gambian agriculture is improving. Development partners like China have played a crucial role," Minister of Agriculture Demba Sabally said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Innovations in infrastructure and the introduction of high-yield agricultural technologies by Chinese teams have been instrumental in reaching this milestone, he said.

For a long time, The Gambia has relied heavily on rice imports due to traditional farming methods, limited mechanization and small-scale rice cultivation.

"In The Gambia, you cannot live without rice," said Gambian farmer Musa Darboe. Originally a telecommunications engineer in the United States, Darboe returned to The Gambia in 2018 to manage the farm left by his father. However, harsh realities quickly hit him.

"I had no knowledge of rice planting techniques at the time, and agricultural mechanization in The Gambia was low. No one taught me what to do, and at one point, I even considered giving it all up," Darboe recalled.

Soon, things took a turn for the better. In July 2019, he met Huang Zhi, country manager of Longping High-Tech, a Chinese agricultural company named after Yuan Longping who was known as the "father of hybrid rice," and his team, who were in The Gambia for agricultural cooperation. From seed selection to planting, Chinese experts provided hands-on assistance and introduced professional equipment such as rice transplanters and harvesters, machines that Darboe's father's generation had never even dreamed of.

"After more than five years of development, Darboe's farm has now achieved near-complete mechanization in four key stages: plowing, transplanting, harvesting and processing," Huang said. According to him, the team has achieved a yield of 10.8 tonnes per hectare, two to three times higher than that of local rice varieties.

"I am deeply grateful for China's support in The Gambia's agricultural development. Without the guidance and assistance of Chinese agricultural experts, we would not have been able to produce high-quality rice," Darboe said.

Rice yields and field management standards at Darboe's farm continue to improve. Through a cooperative model, he now provides seeds, fertilizers, mechanization services and agricultural processing support to more than 2,000 nearby farmers. Other farm owners are also gradually adopting Chinese agricultural machinery and rice planting techniques.

"The Chinese technical team has introduced various high-quality rice varieties, including high-yield and hybrid seeds, which are essential for the development of Gambian agriculture," Sabally said.