Public lecture at Confucius Institute

On 30^th October 2015, Confucius Institute of Egerton University organized a public lecture at the language lab. The lecture was delivered by Professor Bao and Professor Shi. Both Professors are from Nanjing Agricultural University, China.

The Professors gave lectures on topics touching on Agriculture in China. Present at the lecture were Prof. Li Yuan (Director, Confucius Institute) and Dr. Wolukahu (Director, International Linkages). Additionally, our Chinese teachers Yang, Zhang and Wang also attended the lecture. Listening to the lecture too were students studying Chinese language at the Confucius Institute of Egerton University.

Professor Bao gave a lecture on the topic "The development of higher agricultural education in China and its results". He gave the history of how China obtained their expertise in Agriculture, how the Universities in China evolved from collaboration with other international universities and how this collaboration contributed to the development of China as a country. Moreover, he showed the relation between the GDP and the number of articles published. There was a direct proportion between the number of articles published by universities and the GDP. China is also comparing the performance of its universities with other universities in the world to draw up a trend. There was a discovery that China is doing better than other world Universities by publishing more articles in agriculture. There is a Chinese University that is ranked amongst the top 100 universities in the world that is specialized in agriculture. Going forwards, in the next 30 years, China aims to develop further their Universities to offer more specialties. A major point that came out from the lecture was that to solve problems in agriculture, it is of importance to improve the quality of the farmers. Prof. Bao concluded that in order for any university to be a top university, then it must have an international approach and it must have the best lecturers. 

 

Professor Shi gave a lecture on "Sustainable Natural Resource Use in Rural China: Trends and Policies". His lecture focused on sustainable ways of conserving natural resources, by conserving water and reclaiming land. One of the major challenges facing China is the population pressure that is exerted on the natural resources; land is limited, forcing farmers to do farming along slopes in the mountainous regions. The high number of livestock have depleted the grasslands leaving the land bare. The use of water needed to be monitored as it increases with the widening of the middle class. The desert is also advancing each year, and efforts are made to stop this. Interventions made came with consequences, some which were social or economic.  A method of compensating farmers to move out of farming on the slopes and instead farm in other areas was proposed. This proved as a difficult task as it is not precise in identifying the slope areas. In order to reverse pollution, water conservation and waste handling needed to be addressed. The lakes within China have been polluted as a result of farmers using chemicals in their farms, which ends up in rivers and thus ends up in the lakes. This led to a rise in the levels of nitrogen in the lakes. In conclusion, Prof. Shi says that conservation has consequences, some policies need to be carefully formulated to consider the aspects that affect the farmer and the environment.

 

The students listening to the lecture got an opportunity to ask questions to the professors, who gladly answered them effectively. It was clear to see that the students were genuinely interested in the topics that were discussed by the visiting professors. It was also a chance to learn more about the level of agriculture education in China

(Luke Toroitich)