Statistics show that Benin produced 800,000 tons of cotton during the crop year, tops in Africa for three years in a row. Since 2013, China CTEXIC Corporation (CTEXIC), an affiliate of Sinomach subsidiary China Hi-tech Group Corporation, has completed two training sessions as part of China's support project for Benin's cotton industry.

The Chinese agricultural pilot center in Benin was built for agricultural machinery maintenance and agricultural techniques popularization. [Photo/CHTC] The project is helping Benin improve the technologies of cotton seed breeding, selection and refinement, as well as those of advance agricultural operations including mechanized sowing and field management. CTEXIC has contributed to and witnessed a significant increase in the yield per unit area and total production of the cotton industry in Benin, along with a leap in quality. CTEXIC has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Commerce to prepare the project's third training session, which signifies that the company has been highly recognized by the two governments and has fully won the trust of the Benin side.

The agricultural equipment produced by Sinomach has been exported to Benin. [Photo/CHTC]

The cotton field of a model farmer who has participated in the training session [Photo/CHTC]

Students operate a fertilizer applicator in a cotton field. [Photo/CHTC] Amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has spread across the entire world for more than two years, Sinomach subsidiaries have never slowed their pace in helping Africa, devoting their efforts to boosting local development and showing the industrial strength of China. CTEXIC will continue to further cooperation with Benin, and ensure the smooth progress of civil engineering construction and export of agricultural materials. It will also continue to teach and promote advanced farm techniques to provide stakeholders in the cotton sector with qualified operators and agricultural operations.

The faces of local cotton planters light up with happiness brought by a bumper crop after the training. [Photo/CHTC] A decade of efforts by CTEXIC has changed the fortunes of many Benin farmers. They have acquired skills to make a living and then become prosperous. And the cotton project has accelerated the development of Benin's agricultural mechanization, and helped the country take a giant step forward in agricultural modernization. The project champions the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation and has been showered with praise for bringing benefits to local people. The expert team of the third training session will consist of seven people from different agricultural majors such as management, cultivation and machinery. In addition to promoting local cotton planting, they will introduce more diverse types of Chinese agricultural machinery products and cultivate qualified operators and maintainers. The increased cotton productivity means a brighter future for cotton farmers can be expected in the near future.