Chinese know-how can boost African oil crop yields, says lawmaker

Chinese technological knowhow can help double the productivity of sesame, peanut and other oil crops in Africa, turning the continent into a global supplier of raw materials for cooking oil, a lawmaker suggested.

The new frontier of China-Africa collaboration would increase African incomes while diversifying supply away from major soybean producers such as Brazil and the United States, providing a boon to China's national food security during uncertain times, said Deng Qianchun, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

A researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Oil Crop Research Institute, Deng submitted a suggestion to the recently concluded annual legislative session that called on the Chinese government to set up research hubs and industrial parks in sub-Saharan Africa.