Experts helping to boost corn yields in Tanzanian villages

Researchers from a Beijing university have helped farmers in two Tanzanian villages almost triple their corn yields by applying experiences from China.

By introducing simple techniques over the past six years, yields per hectare in Peapea and Mtego Wa Simba - both part of the Morogoro region - have risen from only about 1 metric ton to as much as 3 tons, according to a team from China Agricultural University.

The pilot project, which included increasing planting intensity and manpower, has benefited about 1,000 households in an area where hunger remains a problem, said Li Xiaoyun, the program leader and dean of the college's China Belt and Road Institute for Agricultural Cooperation.