On July 29, the Rural Development Association starts a nine-day training session in Saint-Louis, Senegal, for farming experts from 20 African nations. In addition to classroom lectures, the farmers head outdoors to learn about best practices for harvesting, reaping and threshing rice.
Korean farming techniques and water management systems are spearheading development projects across the African continent, as well as in countries like Iran and Thailand.
Over the years, the Rural Development Administration (RDA) has shared its rice farming technologies, harvest management systems and cultivation techniques with several African governments.
Most recently, the RDA organized a nine-day training session for farmers at the Africa Rice Center in Saint-Louis, Senegal, from July 26. Thirty-four rice farmers from 20 African nations, including Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Mozambique, attended the session, with the goal of developing a type of rice that can flourish in the various African climates.
Participants attended lectures on methods of cross-fertilization and on the cultivation of new rice varieties. Trainees were then taken outdoors where an agricultural expert explained ways to distribute high yield rice seeds, and best practices for harvesting, reaping and threshing the rice. On the final day, participants engaged in a discussion about how to maintain both the quality and quantity of rice yields in each of their countries. They parted ways, each with a supply of high yield rice seeds for their farms.
Kang Kyung Ho, a researcher at the RDA’s National Institute of Crop Science, said, “The goal of the training session is to narrow the selection of rice seeds that are most suited to the various African climates, and to share this information among participating countries. We hope that by doing this, each farmer will be able to develop a rice seed that produces the highest yield in their own specific environment.”
Lee Minho (center), deputy minister of the environment, and Rahim Meydani (right), Iranian deputy energy minister, sign a memorandum of understanding covering joint cooperation on water and wastewater management, on Aug. 7 in Tehran.
Korea has also been sharing its water resource management technologies with Iran and Thailand.
On Aug. 7, the Ministry of Environment signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Tehran with Rahim Meydani, the Iranian deputy energy minister, covering joint cooperation on water and wastewater management. The agreement outlines joint seminars, bilateral staff exchanges, and the sharing of information. It also calls for the creation of a bilateral organizing committee to oversee planning.
On the same day, the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute and Daelim, a construction and petrochemical company, signed an MOU with Iran’s Water and Wastewater Company to cooperate on building a sewage treatment plant in Iran. The agreement outlines R&D, project management, sharing of expertise and joint seminars.
On Aug. 8, Thai Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Chatchai Sarikulya (left) and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kang Hoin shake hands after signing a memorandum of intent that covers cooperation on a development project along the Huai Luang River.
Meanwhile on Aug. 8, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport signed a memorandum of intent (MOI) with the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to cooperate on a development project along the Huai Luang River. This will be the first joint water resource management project between the two countries.
In order to prevent frequent flooding and drought in regions surrounding the Huai Luang River in northeastern Thailand, the agreement stipulates the construction of a reservoir and the strengthening of existing dikes, as means to control floods and increase the supply of water for agriculture.
The project, worth some KRW 6.8 billion, will be carried out in two stages. Construction of the reservoir and dikes will take place during stage one, while irrigation systems will be built in stage two. The project, scheduled to begin in 2017, will run for nine years until 2025.
By Lee Hana
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: RDA, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
hlee10@korea.kr
