Jinhua entrepreneur brings China's hybrid rice to Angola

Huang Yunfeng, chairman of Angola-based Lucky People Group, laid hybrid rice harvested from African soil at the tomb of Yuan Longping — China's "father of hybrid rice" — on July 3. The rice symbolizes six years of agricultural cooperation between China and Africa.

Born in Yiwu — a county-level city in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, Huang first engaged in manufacturing in 2003 in Angola but changed to agriculture after a market decline in 2015.

With the ambition of introducing China's hybrid rice to Angola, Huang visited Yuan Longping in 2018 and received his full support.

The collaboration between Yuan's Hi-Tech Seed Co and Huang's company started in 2019. Since then, their joint efforts have expanded the planting area from 15,000 mu (1,000 hectares) in 2019 to 45,000 mu in 2024, while the yield tripled local traditional varieties, reaching 500 kilograms per mu.

Currently, Huang has established eight farms across three provinces in Angola, with a combined area of 3 million mu. With advanced machinery like plant-protection drones from China, more than 200 trained locals work together with Chinese agricultural technicians.

The price of the rice cultivated by Huang's farms is 30 percent lower than the equivalent imported rice.

Huang Yunfeng walks through his farmland. [Photo/jinhua.com.cn]

Huang held a promotion meeting in Yiwu on July 1 aimed at inviting more investors to Africa. Over 80 attendees from across China showed interest in his project.

Standing before Yuan's tomb, Huang vowed to cultivate hybrid rice on 3 million mu of black earth in Angola within three years.

The integration of Chinese technology, Africa's fertile lands, and the diligence of overseas Chinese is now enabling "the dream of resting under abundant crops" to transcend borders.

Antonio Francisco de Assis, Angola's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, said that the China-Africa agricultural cooperation would not only fulfill mutual food supply needs but also contribute to safeguarding food security for other African countries and even global communities.