- 2 weeks ago
For 15 years, a Chinese scientist has travelled back and forth between China and Africa, working quietly under the hot sun, testing ideas on dry land, and searching for practical answers to food insecurity.
From the ancient Silk Road to Kenya, this documentary follows a story of persistence, science, and a simple belief: no one should be left behind.
It’s not just about agriculture.
It’s about people.
And the future we share.
From the ancient Silk Road to Kenya, this documentary follows a story of persistence, science, and a simple belief: no one should be left behind.
It’s not just about agriculture.
It’s about people.
And the future we share.
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📺
TVTranscript
00:00I
00:30In September 2025, Lanzhou, rainfall has been more abundant than usual, and the surrounding
00:45lowest hills are covered with a rare layer of greenery.
00:50Today, Professor Xiong Yukai from the College of Ecology began packing his belongings to
00:55depart for Kenya.
00:58It will be the 38th journey for him to fly to that distant continent.
01:03What makes him so attached to the East African Plateau, thousands of miles away from China?
01:08The story began over two decades ago.
01:28The second part of the East African Plateau had encountered a once-in-60-year severe drought, triggering a food crisis.
01:41China provided Kenya with two billion Kenyan shillings, 130 million yuan in food aid, and
01:46launched the UN-China Science and Technology Cooperation Program of Water Resource for Africa.
01:51As the project leader, Xiong Yukai led his team on their first visit to rural Kenya.
02:00To their surprise, they discovered that the dry land farming techniques that had alleviated the
02:08millennia-old poverty poverty of the lowest plateau of China, particularly the ridge-furrow
02:11plastic mulching technology, particularly the ridge-furrow
02:13plastic mulching technology, seemed to be tailor-made for the East Africa on the other side of the globe.
02:15It appeared to act as a key to unlock Africa's agricultural challenges.
02:16From that moment, he forged an indelible bond with this land.
02:18As the project leader, Xiong Yukai led his team on their first visit to rural Kenya.
02:21To their surprise, they discovered that the dry land farming techniques that had alleviated
02:25the millennia-old poverty of the lowest plateau of China, particularly the ridge-furrow
02:30plastic mulching technology, seemed to be tailor-made for the East Africa on the other
02:35side of the globe.
02:36It appeared to act as a key to unlock Africa's agricultural challenges.
02:40From that moment, he forged an indelible bond with this land.
02:43From Lan Zhou to Nairobi, a 16-hour flight covering 12,800 kilometers, a journey he has
03:13undertaken for 15 years.
03:24September marks Kenya's short rainy season, when wildlife herds have already migrated south
03:30to the Serengeti Plains.
03:31We are now on the China Road, the name is the Nairobi Expressway.
03:45Kenya straddles the equator, traversed by the East African Rift Valley, spanning 580,000 square
04:07kilometers, comparable to Sichuan province.
04:11Its highland terrain endows it with an equatorial climate that feels perpetually spring-like.
04:16Temperatures ranging from 10 to 26 degrees Celsius throughout the year, harboring agricultural
04:21promise.
04:22Yet, the highly uneven rainfall rhythm has a hidden crisis here.
04:27With only two rainy seasons, the short season ranges from October to December, and the long
04:31one from March to June.
04:34The prolonged dry season imposes drought-like shackles, stifling the land's vitality.
04:40Here, 80% of the population relies on agriculture and livestock, with tea, coffee, and avocados forming
04:47the primary economic pillars.
04:49Owing to dependence on the whims of the weather and extensive farming, local food production
04:54perpetually hovers around subsistence levels.
04:57More notably, among 56 million population in this country, 70% of them are under 30 years
05:04old, in which over half are under 25.
05:07A nation brimming with youthful potential.
05:11Behind this vast labor force lies an urgent demand for food security, a critical barrier
05:16to development that must be overcome.
05:18Nairobi, a city kissed by sunlight, sits atop a plateau at 1,680 meters.
05:24The United Nations Environment Program and UN Habitat have also established their headquarters
05:28here.
05:29In October 2025, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced that by 2026, all functions
05:36of UNICEF, UN Women, and UNFPA would relocate to Nairobi.
05:42This city will thus become the fourth location, following New York, Geneva, and Vienna, to host
05:47multiple UN agencies.
05:50Historical ties run deep.
05:53Six centuries ago, Zheng He's fleet twice reached Kenya's Malindi and Mombasa, particularly
05:59where the Swahili word for T, chai, bears echoes of the Overland Silk Road.
06:05Today, the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway links East Africa's premier port with the capital.
06:12That afternoon, Xiong Yukai traveled to Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,
06:2736 kilometers away.
06:29Here is the Kenya's sole comprehensive university specializing in agricultural technology, a leading
06:34engineering agricultural universities across the East Africa.
06:38In 2015, the China-Africa Joint Research Center, the Chinese government's first overseas comprehensive
06:43scientific research and educational institution, was established here.
06:48It has since become a vital platform for bilateral cooperation in bilateral conservation, ecological
06:54conservation, and modern agricultural demonstration.
06:58The Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology boasts an expansive campus, with
07:03the main site covering approximately four square kilometers.
07:06Beyond teaching buildings and libraries, vast experimental fields dominate the landscape.
07:12Research teams from numerous countries carry out scientific activities here.
07:15Yet, Xiong Yukai's team from Lanzhou University has maintained the longest presence, a full decade.
07:21The two local agricultural experts have been Professor Xiong's long-standing research partners.
07:34Through their daily field experiments, they have witnessed firsthand the tangible benefits of
07:38plastic mulch technology in Kenya, fostering strong confidence in its application and promotion.
07:44We would want really, Kenyan farmers would be very willing to learn from the Chinese farmers
07:50what transformation happened from where they were 20 years ago up to 2025.
07:56We can learn a lot from Chinese transformation, particularly in agricultural production,
08:02small tools, small farms and intensive production.
08:07It is very important that our farmers get to know how China managed to do that.
08:12There are quite a number of limiting factors in agricultural production in Kenya.
08:18But the most critical one is water, because the rainfall sometimes is unreliable.
08:31And so you need to retain much of the moisture that falls into the farm, you know, for crop production.
08:40And so this particular technology, we have found it very good for saving the moisture to control, you know, evaporation of the water that comes into the soil.
08:57I think I started learning about it in 2018, 2019, during the visit to Lanzhou.
09:03And for us, it is a very simple and applicable technology and does not require a lot of high cost technology, very cheap, very simple to apply that our farmers can easily adopt.
09:18China has potential to supply finished materials to Kenya.
09:22So that collaboration in agriculture is extremely important in terms that it's going to enhance food security, both in Kenya and in China.
09:31And then there will be technology transfer from both countries, Kenya and China.
09:37Kenya has a lot of open land.
09:38Kenya has very good in the agricultural climate.
09:41So we could try and test materials from China in Kenya.
09:46So agricultural collaboration is extremely important.
09:49Students from Jomo Kenyatta Agricultural Technology Institute have also visited the experimental base.
09:56A field teaching session led by experts from China's lowest plateau alongside local professors commenced upon this red earth.
10:04Because black plastic sheets can prevent the sunlight, the solar radiation, you know, go through, okay, improve the soil temperature.
10:17Each time Xiong Yukai visits Kenya, he engages in numerous such exchanges.
10:22The audience often includes local officials, farmers, and primary and secondary school pupils who have heard about the initiative
10:29and wish to witness firsthand the remarkable potential of this Chinese technology.
10:35Why is this much-discussed Chinese agricultural technology so remarkable?
10:41The story begins much earlier.
10:48In December 2024, a commemorative gathering was held at Lanzo University.
10:54Over 200 domestic and international ecology experts gathered to honor the memory
10:58of Professor Zhao Songling, a renowned ecologist who pioneered China's plastic mulch technology
11:04and founded water-harvesting agriculture 30 years after his passing.
11:13Drought and poverty have long been inseparable companions on this planet.
11:17One third of the world's land mass lies within arid and semi-arid regions,
11:22home to one billion people living on less than two U.S. dollars a day.
11:27The human struggle against hunger is fundamentally a battle against aridity.
11:32In China, arid and semi-arid agricultural zones cover 52% of the national territory.
11:38The lowest plateau stands as the most quintessential example.
11:43On this land, drought is an inescapable curse and reign the sole hope.
11:48Farming at the mercy of the heavens seems a fate generation of local peasants have been unable to shake.
11:54As early as 8,000 years ago, the ancestors of Gansu's Dadiwan began collecting rainwater to irrigate their fields.
12:12By the pre-Qin period, ridge cultivation techniques had taken shape, with intensive farming becoming a deep-rooted foundation of Chinese agricultural civilization.
12:22In the late 1980s, Professor Zhao Songling experimented with laying polyethylene mulch in farmland at Tangjibao.
12:30At that time, plastic film was a rarity, and some mocked him as a mad old man.
12:35Yet this seemingly reckless act marked a historic step forward.
12:39During the severe drought from 1993 to 1995, plastic mulched fields demonstrated astonishingly stable and high yields, shocking the nation.
12:49Gansu, which had previously required 1 billion gin of grain transfers from the state year after year, now ranks among China's top 10 grain exporting provinces.
13:00Plastic mulch has become the winning strategy for transforming the arid and barren Les Plateaux, hailed as a single sheet that settles the heavens.
13:09Following in the footsteps of Professor Zhao Songling, Professor Li Fengmin of Lan Zhou University's second generation of researchers refined the plastic mulch technique.
13:19Collaborating with Yang Qifeng, director of Gansu's Agricultural Technology Extension Station, to refine and demonstrate the technology.
13:27Successfully developing the full-film, double ridge furrow sewing technique.
13:32This innovation addresses the effective utilization of natural precipitation.
13:36It proves effective in arid and semi-arid regions below 2,300 meters elevation, with annual rainfall under 600 mm.
13:46Even minimal precipitation of 5 mm can be channeled by the film into furrows, delivering precise irrigation to crop roots.
13:53This marks a shift from passive to active drought resistance.
13:57This innovation has elevated maize's suitable cultivation altitude by nearly 500 meters,
14:03expanding high-yield crop cultivation areas.
14:07Today, plastic mulch has become indispensable for most crops across China.
14:12In 2008, this technology yielded one-fifth of the province's grain output from just 7.2% of its arable land.
14:20The ridge furrow plastic mulching technique played a pivotal role in China's battle against poverty.
14:26Xiong Yukai's team, pioneers of third-generation plastic mulch technology, has now taken up the baton.
14:34They are extending this dry land farming technique to more water-scarce regions, boosting grain yields and production.
14:41This time, their sights are set further afield, dedicated to forging agricultural partnerships with belt and road partner nations.
14:50Thus began a 15-year exchange between a Chinese team and an African nation.
14:56The vision of exporting and agricultural technology honed over two decades in China.
15:12To benefit another continent was admirable, yet the path proved far from smooth.
15:17In 2011, when Xiong Yukai first arrived in Kenya with his team at the experimental field they had secured after considerable effort,
15:25the sight before them was profoundly shocking.
15:27We had gone to France and, in the first Friends area,
15:30and he had an iron field with rocks of corn.
15:34The plantation was had all massive материals.
15:37He said that he could only give us a different land for this farm.
15:42If we were to hear it, he would only be able to use the ground for a boy.
15:47If we were to gleichzeitig, we thought of the sameproject as the wood,
15:50and we were to help the kids with the master's grass.
15:53Once the barren slope was leveled into farmland and all preparations were complete, we laid the plastic mulch film we'd brought from China across the experimental field.
16:15As everyone eagerly anticipated its effectiveness, we unexpectedly faced another setback.
16:21For the rise of the murch film, we showed that we were in the country, which was the challenge for the murch.
16:28For the murch we produced the murch, the murch will develop a large number of murch and then the murch is full.
16:36In this photograph taken at the Katamani Experimental Site in
17:052012, fields cultivated using traditional local methods yielded almost nothing, while
17:12maize grown under ridge furrow mulching showed vigorous growth and high yields.
17:18In August 2012, encouraging results emerged.
17:22At the end of maize's first growth cycle at the Katamani trial site, plants grown using
17:26ridge furrow mulching exceeded two meters in height with plump ears.
17:30In contrast, maize cultivated using indigenous traditional methods reached only about one
17:35meter.
17:35In 2012, our first experiment was achieved by the plant and corn, plants, and water
17:45use of water.
17:46The increase in the increase in the increase in the increase in the increase of 30% to 50%
17:57in the increase in the increase in the increase of 30% to 50%.
18:00This stark contrast has drawn widespread attention.
18:22Following the trial, nearly 20,000 people visited the experimental site to observe and learn.
18:27Yet, the adaptation of Chinese technology to local conditions in Africa has only just begun.
18:33Across the vast expanse of Africa, the most primitive farming methods persist, relying on the whims of the weather, with widespread cultivation yielding meager returns.
18:44Kenya's nationwide plastic ban presented a fresh challenge for the team, promoting ridge furrow plastic mulching and recovery techniques while safeguarding the environment.
18:53We changed the technique of drysmithing brush, to create a painter from the groundhog marketplace.
18:59We have built a drysmithing brush and milling method.
19:03We have to use it as a natural-zero process to reduce the fit of the waste pardoning and freeze-free.
19:15As early as the 1960s and 1970s, agricultural experts from Japan, South Korea, and Germany
19:26conducted research on drought-resistant techniques here, but the high costs proved prohibitive
19:31for local farmers.
19:45So the legislature does not need to cover all of the farm, but we only need to cover all of the buildings, so it can be done in a new hab heroin.
20:08While the concept of localizing technology may seem straightforward, its implementation
20:28presents considerable challenges.
20:31Over the past 15 years, Langeo University has dispatched five batches comprising 25 postgraduate
20:37students and seven faculty members to Kenya to conduct in-depth research on localizing
20:42this technology.
20:57His name is Simon Naguru, a professor of soil science and water conservation at the University
21:03of Eastern Kenya, and Xiong Yukai's earliest collaborator in Kenya.
21:09This is his farm in Machakos County, serving as one of the demonstration sites for Chinese
21:14plastic mulch technology in Kenyan rural areas.
21:18The villagers here are all Kamba people, with women predominantly engaged in agricultural
21:23cultivation.
21:24The crops primarily consist of maize, mangoes, and pigeon peas.
21:32Today, Professor Simon Naguru has invited villagers participating in a United Nations project
21:41for women in developing countries to engage in on-site exchanges with Professor Xiong Yukai.
21:50You are my part of your work, but I am sure my friends are the ones who have been
22:14I want to make a demonstration of how to use the plastic sheets, okay?
22:32The first is the soil treatment.
22:36We need to make this furrow, or the ridge, okay?
22:41The ridge, and this furrow, and this furrow, okay?
22:45So there's a distance between two furrows, okay?
22:49He said, I've used this before,
22:53it's puttym, and then puttym.
22:57He used oxen.
22:59He used to use the oil in the country.
23:03He said,
23:05They asked us,
23:07how can we buy this timber?
23:09Please wait patiently.
23:13We'll provide Dr. Samengulu
23:19much more plastic sheets.
23:23In the furrow, we established the factory to produce a lot of new plastic sheets.
23:35And it gave you a good price.
23:37So $1 in food.
23:42Get $100 in cup.
23:45At this moment, Mandarin, English, Swahili, and Kamba
23:53intertwine as barriers of nationality, ethnicity, and culture
23:57dissolve in pursuit of the shared goal.
24:00Professor Naguru, who has visited China on multiple occasions,
24:16is confident about the promotion of this technology in Kenya.
24:19Our research shows that this technology is profitable.
24:23The other thing with this technology is the probability of getting grain yield, or biomass.
24:29We get rain, but people plant all the time.
24:33One season, in fact, one to three seasons is when they get out of 10.
24:40That's when they get a crop.
24:42The other, they don't get anything.
24:44And these people will tell you,
24:46rain comes, it falls too much,
24:49but there's too much heat, all the water goes.
24:53Once it goes, soil is left with no water,
24:57and people cannot harvest.
24:59But if we use this technology,
25:01we increase by over 70% probability of getting yield, some yield.
25:08And if we do this, it will be good because people here,
25:12if you go around, you find a lot of people farming large areas.
25:15When I went to China, I saw people farming small areas and getting a lot of food.
25:20That is something that needs to be done here in Kenya.
25:24Because instead of putting a lot of effort farming very big areas,
25:30farm a small area, get big yield.
25:33Farmers who have already used Chinese plastic mulch are highly satisfied with their harvests.
25:37I grew up with this.
25:38I grew up with Mr. Nguru, because here'sредer.
25:45He told me about the valley to China.
25:47I learned somewhere he will have $3.
25:51I grew up with it.
25:53He knew that the farm has been very good.
25:55It's about 9 kilos.
26:00It's about 9 kilos.
26:02It was about 5 kilos.
26:04We have to eat a lot of food.
26:06We have to eat a lot of food.
26:11We have to eat a lot of food.
26:13In the past, when we're doing this technology,
26:19the farmers saw this huge amount of food,
26:23food, food, food,
26:27it was very strange.
26:29When people saw hope,
26:31Addressing the Kenyan farmer's need for affordable plastic mulch is also a key objective of Xiong Yukai's mission.
26:40He has already reached a preliminary agreement with the University of Eastern Kenya to establish a production facility.
26:45The University of Eastern Kenya also serves as one of the trial sites for Lanzhou University's ridge furrow plastic mulch coverage and recovery technology.
26:54Spanning 40 square kilometers, equivalent to over 5,000 football pitches, it ranks as Africa's second-largest university by area.
27:04Transforming arid lands into oases, changing lives, embodies the aspirations and steadfast commitment of its faculty and students.
27:12The University of Eastern Kenya expressed interest in jointly establishing Africa's first agricultural film production enterprise.
27:19Today, two Chinese agricultural film and machinery manufacturers presented their production technologies, equipment, and raw materials to experts and professors via video conference.
27:38The best?
27:38The best?
27:38The best?
27:39The best?
27:39The best?
27:39The best?
27:39The best?
27:39The best?
27:39The best?
27:40The best?
27:40The best?
27:41The best?
27:42The best?
27:43The best?
27:44The best?
27:46The best?
27:48Local production and local recycling are now within reach, heralding the imminent arrival of low-cost African agricultural film tailored to local conditions.
27:59The best?
28:00In the French texts.
28:01Finally, theый
28:19to do large-scale agriculture training,
28:21to do soil products,
28:23to grow and grow,
28:25for example, to grow and grow,
28:27and to build again.
28:29If these sustainable industries
28:31are going to happen,
28:33I believe that the肯尼亚人民
28:35will be distributed to the東非高原
28:37and the whole of the非洲
28:39干干半干地区.
28:41I think that this is also a
28:43important step for the past and after
28:45the past and the past.
28:47Tsung Yang and Li Xianpeng,
28:49postgraduate students from Lanzhou University,
28:51are part of the fifth cohort sent to
28:53Kenya for experimental demonstrations.
28:55Today they will join local students
28:57Alex and Sylvia to conduct field
28:59surveys and soil sampling
29:01in Ingeborg County, Nakuru.
29:05Situated on the edge of the
29:07East African Rift Valley with views
29:09overlooking Lake Nakuru,
29:11Ingeborg County offers breathtaking scenery.
29:17local farmer Alan Yagon
29:19had never used plastic mulch before,
29:21having only heard of the technique.
29:23Plastic film matching is a new technology
29:27used by farmers currently in our area.
29:29We are using the traditional methods of
29:31farming to plant maize.
29:33given the opportunity to use a plastic film matching,
29:39it will increase our crop production by 30%
29:43and will be appreciated to introduce in our area.
29:45in this Nakuru County.
29:47Pointing to a patch of lush vegetation,
29:49locals explain,
29:51this is called Chinese grass.
29:53It was introduced from China,
29:55which substitutes grass for wood and
29:57resolves the conflict between fungi and forests.
29:59This technology has now spread to
30:01106 countries.
30:03This technology has now spread to
30:05106 countries.
30:07to use a plastic film matching.
30:09To use a plastic film matching,
30:11it will increase our crop production by 30%
30:13and will be appreciated to introduce in our area
30:15and in this Nakuru County.
30:17Pointing to a patch of lush vegetation,
30:19locals explain,
30:21this technology has now spread to 106 countries
30:23and regions worldwide.
30:25Let's take a look at it.
30:29It has grown for about 3 months.
30:32About 4 months.
30:34About 4 months.
30:35If it is rich,
30:37it will increase 20% to 30%.
30:41With our technology,
30:43it will increase 35% to 40%.
30:47It will increase its roots.
30:50It will increase your crop production andなく to
30:54the processing.
30:55And this is a tree that has a plant level.
30:56It will increase the soil.
30:58It is a tree where there is a tree.
31:00A tree.
31:02It's over.
31:04The tree has over.
31:05If it is used to be destroyed,
31:06it will increase the soil temperature and
31:06And it will reduce the soil temperature,
31:09it will decrease the soil temperature.
31:10It will reduce the soil temperature.
31:12It will reduce the soil temperature.
31:14It will increase the soil temperature.
31:16I think it's 30.
31:18To look at this area, the soil is very high.
31:21Yes.
31:22Yes.
31:34Today, Mei Fujian will collaborate with Kenyan students
31:37to systematically analyze the physico-chemical properties
31:40of this soil sample from Nakuru.
31:42Through particle size analysis and organic matter content determination.
31:49This work will establish a data foundation for future experimental promotion
31:53of plastic mulch technology in this region.
31:56Wesley, age 33, was the first student recruited by Xiong Yu Kai in Kenya.
32:02This young man who developed an interest in agricultural technology from a young age.
32:06After completing his undergraduate studies,
32:09he became Xiong Yu Kai's post-graduate student.
32:13Now, having earned his doctorate,
32:15he is an associate professor at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
32:21He was an associate professor at Jomo Kenyan University of the University of Rio
32:28In the country, I saw a lot of Chinese agriculture in the country
32:32which is produced in that region.
32:34They have the evidence-based field,
32:35and they have the evidence-based field to transform the field as well.
32:37This means that we use only decades in the field,
32:38and so we want to use the admiral work to be able to transform the field,
32:40We can use this technology to solve the problem of food security and make our lives better.
32:53Currently, Professor Shang Yukai's research group includes 11 Kenyan students who, like Wesley in his time, are studying China's dry land farming techniques.
33:03Six students have already completed their studies and returned home.
33:06Jointly training international students and agricultural technicians while disseminating farming techniques has become routine for Shang Yukai's team.
33:16He admitted the first international student to pursue a degree at Lanzhou University.
33:21To date, 44 students from Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia and other nations have studied here, returning home with technical expertise to become ambassadors of know-how along the Belt and Road.
33:34The campus glowed with vibrant autumn hues as the Silk Road Melodies, Beauty at Lanzhou University, 2025 International Culture Festival unfolded as scheduled.
33:46International students from 40 nations shared tales of their homelands through song, dance and cuisine.
33:52This gathering fostered not only knowledge exchange, but also forged bridges of friendship among young scholars.
33:59Kenyan student Summa and her classmates meticulously prepared traditional dishes, kachumbari, pilau and chapati.
34:06Mianpian, a staple noodle dish in northwest China, was prepared by Wang Yang and Li Xianpeng, students who seldom cook at home, in their modest rented accommodation far from Africa.
34:21Not long ago, they even recreated Jiangshui, a traditional northwest Chinese drink renowned for its cooling properties.
34:29This was likely the first bowl of Jiangshui ever made on the African continent.
34:33Their social media posts garnered enthusiastic praise from classmates.
34:36This cornmeal-based dish, known as ugali, is a traditional staple in East and Southern African nations, typically served with meat stews or vegetables.
34:49Beloved by locals, ugali is regarded as a cultural emblem of Kenyan cuisine.
34:54In China's northwest, a similar dish made from cornmeal mixed with water is called sanfan.
35:01The difference lies in texture. One is porridge-like, the other forms into lumps.
35:07Two agricultural cultures, separated by vast distances, have converged through cornmeal.
35:13The peoples of these two nations have been brought together by a single technology.
35:24We have collected two verdes from an agricultural heat, and collected время.
35:27We do research with theest in our balance of marine farming and introduction to terrains.
35:29Our agriculture system is to use our agricultural drying and unionization and preservation of our agricultural farming method to plant and stirnge the local cornmeal.
35:33We use the environment for environmental farming and processed in our agricultural fields.
35:35We work throughавlap garden to plant plants, and the agricultural fields.
35:39The agriculture itself has been created by the major health systems.
35:43It is also very large.
35:45We have grown in the wild produced and crops.
35:46It has taken 40 years toach and community.
35:48We have worked in the wild đistories.
35:51We have worked for some of the wild wild photos that have been released in Africa.
35:52It will allow me to do the research in the field
35:54It will be like a farmer
35:56You can have to dig into the fields
35:59You can find the problem in the field
36:01In other words, the research in the field
36:04It will allow me to find the world in the North
36:06There will be a wider space
36:07I want to thank the teacher
36:10He gave me this advice
36:12He gave me this advice
36:15He gave me this advice
36:17He wanted us to learn
36:18Because we can change our lives
36:23I learned the research
36:25And I learned how to do the research
36:30I learned how to do the research
36:33Chitogo, Leanda Township
36:39Yuzhong County lies over 30 kilometers from Lanzo City Center
36:43This region epitomizes the gullied terrain of the Loas Plateau
36:47Experiencing drought 9 years out of 10
36:50With annual precipitation barely reaching 300 millimeters
36:54Since the 1990s, Lanzo University has conducted trials here
37:00To promote plastic mulch technology
37:02Today, Professor Xiong Yukai
37:05Brought newly enrolled students to observe firsthand
37:08How a field has sustained mulch use over many years
37:11I have conducted a seminar
37:13This type of observations
37:16You know, the conclusions have been found
37:19From the functional law of the moors
37:22I have gained a lot learning farming technologies in China
37:26Through Professor, Professor Xiong
37:29He is the one who has taught us about the plastic field mulching
37:33The ridge and furrow irrigation system
37:35So, and so many other technologies
37:38That if I take this back at home
37:40It will really help the farmers back at home
37:43And it will help our country, Kenya
37:45Liu Ditai was among the first farmers to experiment with plastic mulch
37:49Having just finished his farm work
37:51He enthusiastically shared this year's corn yield with Professor Xiong
37:55You know, it's the one who has been affected by the fact that he managed to be background
37:57It has been the same
37:58Yes, yes, yes
37:59During the beginning of the 10 years
38:01We have had not heard of this
38:02Our случая는ели
38:02This year
38:03The waterfront
38:04And yet, the waterfront
38:06The waterfront
38:06On the project
38:07Also used to use
38:08Yes, yes
38:09It was used to use
38:09It was used to use
38:09Yes, it was used to use
38:11It was used to be high
38:11It is not only for the science
38:12It was used to go as a whole
38:12We've been there
38:12The waterfront
38:13This year
38:14The waterfront
38:16The waterfront
38:16Is used to 90 years
38:18In the waterfront
38:19Oh, it was used to 90 years
38:20So, the waterfront
38:21It was used to be
38:22You know, on the waterfront
38:24So we started to grow the soil.
38:27At that time, the country didn't grow the soil.
38:33They didn't grow the soil.
38:35The soil didn't grow the soil.
38:38When the soil didn't grow, the soil didn't grow the soil.
38:44They didn't grow the soil.
38:47This is because the soil is in there.
38:50Plastic mulch has become an essential item
38:53for the cultivation of the vast majority of crops.
38:56With the assistance of Xiong Yukai's team
38:58and local agricultural technicians,
39:00the technology for reusing plastic mulch
39:03has also begun to be promoted.
39:05Some mulch films can be used two to three times
39:07for different crops.
39:09Under government guidance,
39:10a plastic mulch recovery system has been established
39:13through the use of thicker, high-strength mulch films
39:16and biodegradable mulch films.
39:18Coupled with methods such as trade-in schemes
39:20and points-based rewards,
39:23the recovery rate of old mulch has reached over 85%.
39:27In 2024, the area of plastic mulch used in Gansu province
39:31reached 32 million mu.
39:33Reducing plastic mulch usage while maintaining yields
39:37is the current research focus of Xiong Yukai's team.
39:40As he puts it,
39:42our predecessors laid down the mulch.
39:44Our task is to figure out how to take it up again
39:47while ensuring stable and increased production.
39:50Among the 17 goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda
39:54for Sustainable Development,
39:56the first is the eradication of poverty,
39:59followed by the elimination of hunger.
40:02These two objectives represent the most unifying priorities,
40:05transcending cultural and ideological divides.
40:08China's contributions to these goals
40:10have garnered broad support from UN member states.
40:13In June 2023, at the invitation of the United Nations Environment Program,
40:19Professor Xiong Yukai delivered a thematic presentation.
40:23In February 2025,
40:25the Pakistan Academy of Sciences extended congratulations
40:28upon Professor Xiong Yukai's unanimous election as a foreign member.
40:34This marks the first time an ecology professor from Lanzhou University
40:37has received this honor.
40:39From East Africa to South Asia,
40:41China's plastic mulch technology
40:43is assisting more nations in tackling drought challenges.
40:47The Chinese people have made a lot of contribution in this country,
40:51in all the sectors of the economy,
40:54in construction,
40:55all the engineering components,
40:59in all areas, including the agriculture.
41:01So it has been a very beneficial collaboration
41:05between the two countries.
41:07And I'm sure the Chinese,
41:09many Chinese working in Kenya,
41:11in many areas of the economy,
41:13many Kenyans studying in China,
41:17in many universities in China,
41:19and learning a lot of technologies
41:21on how we can transform things in this country.
41:24So it is very beneficial collaboration.
41:29This year marks the 15th year that Xiong Yukai's team
41:33has been promoting ridge furrow plastic mulching
41:35and recovery technology in Kenya.
41:38According to estimates,
41:39if this technology is successfully implemented,
41:42only one-third of the arable land
41:44would be required to produce sufficient food
41:46to feed Kenya's entire population.
41:49If rolled out nationwide,
41:50it could even transform Kenya from a famine-stricken nation
41:54into a food-exporting country.
41:57Today, a set of technical standards tailored for the East African Plateau
42:01has been finalized.
42:02Further innovations, simpler to operate,
42:05more affordable, environmentally friendly
42:07and energy efficient,
42:08remain under continuous development.
42:11The establishment of the China-Kenya Dryland
42:13Agricultural Technology Demonstration Park
42:16brings the dream of solving
42:17Africa's food security challenges
42:19through Chinese technology.
42:21To address Africa's food security challenges
42:24is no longer a distant prospect.
42:26The world shows an intelligent intelligent path
42:31and future knowledge
42:32that marriedшая theater,
42:33this is like a field of an island and tow.
42:36If you want to make me again,
42:38what I would suggest is no mistake.
42:42To theseavais söyledaded memories,
42:44so that hope can be worth it.
42:45From the Les Plateau to the East African Plateau,
42:48over 15 years,
42:50He traveled back and forth for 38 times, covering more than 972,000 kilometers, equivalent
42:57to circling the Earth's equator with 24 times.
43:00A roll of plastic mulch paves not only the path to increase grain yields, but also develop
43:06a bond of friendship, spanning mountains and seas.
43:10The spirit of the poplar trees at Langeau University has taken deep root here, while
43:15the ribbon of the Belt and Road Initiative binds the dreams of two continents together.
43:20More will set out along this road in the future, since they know that eradicating poverty and
43:25ensuring food security have never been the responsibility of a single nation alone.
43:30It is a shared goal for all humanity.
43:34This proves to be an unceasing, mutual journey across mountains and seas.
43:45The End
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