A Versatile Expert

Chinese expert helps São Tomé and Príncipe develop its animal husbandry industry

- Li Kaizhi

No sooner had the clock struck midnight to herald the new year of 2020, a series of text messages began to show up on Wei Wangfei’s phone. “Happy New Year!” “I want to make silage …” Wei knew that it was Cirilo Silva who was planning to use corn straw to produce silage. “He has obviously tasted the sweetness of it,” Wei said with a smile.

Wei, 51, is an expert in animal husbandry at the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Rongxian County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China. Over the past 29 years, he has been focusing on the fields of feed processing and veterinary surgery. In April 2018, at the request of São Tomé and Príncipe, China sent a team of agricultural experts on animal husbandry, cultivation and biogas to the African country. It was China’s second batch of experts to the country since the resumption of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level at the end of 2016. Wei was a member of the team.

“I want to teach the simplest and practical techniques of animal husbandry to the local people in order to help them increase the yield, so that they can use the limited resources to produce greater value,” Wei said.

Due to the limitation of land resources, animal husbandry in São Tomé and Príncipe is still at a nascent stage, and the development is relatively slow.