NAIROBI, Aug. 31 -- The mechanization of African agriculture holds the key to tackling the continent's endemic hunger and malnutrition, an expert has said.

Cheng Cheng, the lead of Asian Partnerships at the Kenya-based Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an organization that seeks to catalyze agricultural transformation on the content, said mechanization and digitalization of crop production can have a big effect on food production in Africa, thus solving perennial food insecurity.

"The African farm systems are the least mechanized across all continents, yet demand for food is huge due to the increasing population on the continent," Cheng told Xinhua in a recent interview in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, ahead of the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFS) slated for Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, on Sept. 2-6.

The expert observed that for the continent to move forward, it is necessary to work with development partners and private companies to invest in rediscovering mechanization and digitalization on the continent.

Cheng noted that the AGRA's role is to forge partnerships and embrace what can help Africa upscale its food productivity with Asian countries.

He added that the continental body is fostering strategic partnerships to address agrifood system challenges by leveraging China's expertise in agricultural modernization. The launch of the China-Africa Knowledge Sharing Platform by the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy is one such example.

Cheng said Africa has an opportunity to explore and solidify partnerships to ensure that the continent's food systems are not only resilient but also globally competitive.

He said so far, three machinery makers from China have confirmed entering the East African market to set up plants. New maize harvesting machinery will also be introduced in Kenya to help save time in the harvesting process.

"China is eager to share knowledge and experience with African partners to turn around the seed system as part of the revolution into becoming food secure," Cheng added.

He also urged African governments to speed up the Malabo declaration of reducing levels of poverty, ending hunger on the continent, and tripling intra-African trade through agriculture.

  - Xinhua