Beijing, Sept. 03 — Prime Minister Mr. Ntsokoane Matekane on Tuesday visited China Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Science (CAAMS).
CAAMS is a farm machinery technologies industry.
This was just a day before the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) which is scheduled to start on Wednesday.
In his remarks, he said that he has learned a lot from the industry especially with agriculture being the backbone of every economy.
He said that as Lesotho, they are in the journey of transforming agriculture so that it can be one of the most important and valuable sectors to take the country out of poverty.
He said that they need to be able to sustain themselves, feed their people as well as neighbouring countries.
He mentioned that Lesotho is a very small country of about 30,000 square meters saying that 70 percent of it is mountainous while 30 percent is the lowlands where mostly farming happens.
“We are on a journey to make sure we can stand on our feet therefore we want to cooperate to get the best machinery,” he stressed.
He emphasised that they need to take Lesotho out of poverty therefore agriculture is the only way to go.
On the other hand, CAAMS Vice General Manager Mr. Zhao Bo said that the visit is an encouragement not only to the company but to innovation as well.
He said that they are looking forward to more indepths cooperation in agriculture, saying he believes that the agriculture of the two countries will usher in a more prosperous future.
He said that he hopes this is the start for China and Lesotho cooperation on agriculture.
Meanwhile the Prime Minister’s entourage include the Minister of Public Works and Transport Mr. Matjato Moteane, Minister of Finance and Development Planning Dr. Rets’elisitsoe Matlanyane, Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) officials to mention a few.
