On October 20th in Sanya, a senior executive from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rodger Voorhies, shared his admiration for China’s agricultural innovations during an interview with media outlets, including China News Service. “This place is known as the ‘Silicon Valley of China’s seed industry’. Agricultural experts here are leveraging innovative technologies to develop new varieties of crops like rice, corn, and cotton,” he remarked while visiting the National South China Seed Research and Breeding Base.
As the President of the Global Growth and Opportunity Division at the Gates Foundation, Voorhies oversees initiatives related to agriculture and poverty alleviation. During his recent trip to Beijing and Sanya, he engaged in discussions with institutions like the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to explore opportunities for deeper collaboration in agricultural innovation.
He addressed critical issues such as ensuring food security, creating more effective agricultural climate adaptation systems, and how to ensure technologies benefit smallholder farmers. “China is an indispensable partner in tackling these challenges,” he stated.
“Agriculture is a key pathway to poverty alleviation,” Voorhies noted, emphasizing that decades of empirical research in China and other countries indicate that growth in the agricultural sector has a poverty reduction effect that’s more than double that of other sectors.
He pointed out that for agricultural development to genuinely lift people out of poverty, several essential conditions must be met, including advanced technology, high-quality seeds, supportive policies, and an efficient seed industry system.
Reflecting on the last few decades, he acknowledged the significant progress made in food security, particularly in China, where the country has driven the largest wave of poverty reduction in history—an impressive achievement. According to Voorhies, China possesses extensive expertise and innovative technologies in agricultural research and extension systems, especially in developing crop resilience, which can aid farmers in low-income countries to improve their food and nutrition status while increasing their income.
Having worked in Sub-Saharan Africa for many years, Voorhies has observed the challenges faced there, such as poor soil fertility, low agricultural productivity, high fertilizer costs, and underdeveloped markets. Additionally, many locals rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, making them particularly vulnerable to unpredictable rainfall and economic instability.
However, he noticed that when appropriate systems are established and technologies are promoted, the people of Africa can achieve sustainable growth and build efficient agricultural systems. “A few months ago, I witnessed remarkable improvements in agricultural productivity in Ethiopia,” Voorhies recounted, noting the country’s transition from needing to import expensive wheat to achieving self-sufficiency in wheat production in just five years.
He attributes this dramatic transformation to Ethiopia’s efforts to promote advanced agricultural technologies, provide disease-resistant seeds, and implement effective disease monitoring systems. They even created soil health maps to select appropriate fertilizers and seeds for different soil types. “This clearly demonstrates the incredible potential for development in Africa when these systems work in synergy,” he stated.
Voorhies expressed hope that this collaborative model could serve as a catalyst for agricultural development in other countries. He firmly believes that through close partnerships with China and other global allies, farmers in low- and middle-income countries can grow more nutritious crops that are resilient to climate change.
