Chinese farm machines draw crowd at expo

Mechanized potato harvesting machines drew large, curious crowds at a recent machinery exhibition in Nairobi.

There are more than 800,000 smallholder potato growers in Kenya, but mechanized farming is yet to be embraced, according to Beda Esauke, manager of the National Cereals and Produce Board in Meru county, where most of the potatoes in the country are grown.

The potato is the second most important crop after maize in the East African country.

The first 2016 China Africa Machinery Exhibition held at the Pili Trade Centre in Nairobi's Industrial Area at the end of January had more than 100 exhibitors. It attracted an estimated 3,000 people over three days. A second exhibition is scheduled for March 17-19 at the center, officials say.

"Meru is the food basket of the country. Most of the food consumed in the capital comes from this county. However, farmers have not yet embraced mechanized farming. Therefore, the introduction of the potato harvester at the China Africa Machinery Exhibition will revolutionize potato farming in this region," Esauke says.

Lantian Investments International Co (Kenya), a subsidiary of Lantian Structure Steel Group and Harbin Lantian Haoyu Trading Co, were the hosts of the expo.

Wang Haojie, an official at Lantian Investment and also the managing director of Blue Sky International Construction Group, says there was a need to have a China-Africa event where affordable and high-quality Chinese mechanical products could be displayed to reach the vast number of potential customers across Africa.

"Our trade show is the largest multibrand equipment manufacturing machinery exhibition in Kenya."

Wang says they host "more than a dozen large, international equipment manufacturing machinery exhibitions every year, featuring both domestic and international manufacturers. We want to build a global platform for industrial products and meet all the technical requirements of our customers."

He says the products featured at the exhibition were some of China's leading equipment brands, which also provide after-sales service.

Machinery on display was categorized into transport, agricultural, construction, and food processing and packaging machinery.

For China Daily

(China Daily Africa Weekly 02/26/2016 page29)