Harvesting knowledge

African students at the Sino-Africa Science and Technology Backyard program gain hands-on experience to improve farming practices for African smallholder farmers.

Like a farmer, Aline woke up early, around 6 am, every day at her experimental station in Quzhou county, Handan, North China's Hebei province, beginning her busy day with various farming tasks.

Aline's full name is Roukiatou Aline Beniwende Pamtaba. A 26-year-old from Burkina Faso, a western African country, she began her graduate studies at the College of Resources and Environmental Sciences at China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing in September last year.

Majoring in resource utilization and plant protection, she is currently conducting research in experimental fields in rural areas of Quzhou, about 350 kilometers southwest of downtown Beijing, under the Science and Technology Backyard (STB) program.