H.E. Ambassador Zhou Yuxiao attended the Opening Ceremony of Liberian National Agriculture Fair last Friday, November 30, 2007 in Tubmanburg, the capital city of Bomi County. The exhibition, hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture of Liberia, aimed at demonstrating the achievement in the agricultural development produced and encouraging more farmers to engage in agricultural production so as to reduce poverty. Vice President Mr. Boakai and Minister of Agriculture were present at the ceremony and spoke.

In his speech, Ambassador Zhou briefed the audience on China's agriculture development. He said that China has a population as large as 1.3 billion, about 22% of the world's total but it possesses only 7% of the world's arable land. Yet the Chinese farmers have basically managed to produce sufficient food grain to feed the big and growing population. Last year, China produced 500 million tons of food grain, nearly 400kg per capita, and a huge amount of vegetable and meat. The Ambassador told the audience that China exports about 100 thousand tons of rice to Liberia which makes up 70-80% of the total amount of Liberian imported rice to help overcome the shortage of grain in the country.

The Ambassador expressed his confidence that Liberia will not only achieve self-sufficiency in food but also be able to export food to other countries in the not too distant future. As Liberia has all the necessary conditions for farming, such as vast land, plenty of rainfall and sunshine, increased attention to agriculture by the government and support by the international community.

Ambassador Zhou, together with Vice President Boakai and Minister of Agriculture, visited the exhibition stalls with great interest and chatted with the farmers present.