Machinery / Industrial Parts & Tools

The sun was blazing in northern West Africa in May. I heard that China's agricultural machinery and equipment have been selling well in Senegal on the northern edge of the Sahara desert in recent years. Recently, the author rushed to thies City, which is less than 100 kilometers away from the capital Dakar, and interviewed the Chinese funded Senegal first machinery and Equipment Co., Ltd., which is rooted here.

Walking into the factory area of 100000 square meters, all kinds of agricultural machinery are placed in the brand-new workshop, and the employees of China and Serbia are busy. "China's agricultural machinery and equipment are increasingly favored by local farmers. The company sells more than 1000 sets of agricultural machinery and equipment every year." Wang Chuanfang, chairman of the company from Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, said that since the company began operation in 2018, its business and sales network have been continuously improved and expanded. It has not only five Direct stores in Dakar, St. Louis, Kolda, Jiesi and koulake, but also 14 distribution stores in other cities. All this is due to the importance attached by the Serbian government to agricultural development.

As an agricultural country, Senegal has never relaxed its efforts for food self-sufficiency. Senegal's agricultural population accounts for 60% to 70%, and its arable land area is about 4 million hectares. It mainly grows food crops such as rice, corn and sorghum, as well as cash crops such as peanuts and cotton. In the 2020 / 2021 planting season, the country's total grain output reached 3.64 million tons, far exceeding the previous year's 2.7 million tons, including 1.3 million tons of rice and 1.44 million tons of millet. As the most important economic crop in China, the total area of peanut planting is about 1.82 million hectares, with a total output of about 1.82 million tons in 2020. The export of peanuts and their products has always been an important source of foreign exchange in Senegal. About 4 million people are engaged in peanut planting, acquisition, crushing and export. At the end of 2014, China and Serbia signed the protocol on phytosanitary requirements for Senegalese peanuts to China. The export of Senegalese peanuts to China has increased significantly. China has now become the largest export market of Senegalese peanuts.

"The development of sainong machinery industry is seriously lagging behind. There is no decent molding supporting products and scale. Most of them exist in the form of 'small workshops', and most of the villages and farmland are' cattle cultivated land 'and' horse drawn vehicles'." Wang Chuanfang said that the peanut output here is generally more than 1000 kg per hectare, while China's output can reach 3000 kg to 4000 kg per hectare. The main reasons for such a large yield gap are backward farming methods, low degree of mechanization, insufficient sowing area and scale, poor seed cultivation technology, especially a large number of idle land. Wang Chuanfang told reporters that through market research, it was found that although western countries provided some agricultural machinery and equipment to Serbia through sales and assistance channels, there was a serious lack of after-sales service, and agricultural machinery was paralyzed due to the lack of accessories at the end of an operation period. For example, in St. Louis, it was found that agricultural machinery products of New Holland, case and John Deere were scrapped in advance due to lack of accessories.

In the face of this problem, China funded Senegal first mechanical equipment Co., Ltd. timely developed and provided marketable products, and established the "family doctor" business philosophy of selling products, after-sales service and establishing spare parts warehouse, so as to achieve full-time telephone consultation service, full-time on-site maintenance and full-time spare parts logistics supply.

"There was a farmer in Kolda who found a business opportunity after buying a peanut picker. He immediately purchased six more to meet his needs and rent them. Soon, he bought a brand-new family car." According to Wang zengxing, general manager of the company, in Korda and other cities far away from the capital, the basic monthly salary of employees in the distribution store is generally 60000 to 80000 illegal West francs, while the company's distribution store adopts the monthly salary system of "basic salary (100000 illegal West francs) + sales Commission". According to the comprehensive calculation of the whole year, the annual income of these employees can reach more than 100000 yuan.

In order to cultivate agricultural machinery use and maintenance talents, the company signed a cooperation agreement with the Confucius Institute of Dakar University to help students increase agricultural machinery technology and knowledge; A credit cooperation agreement was signed with the Agricultural Bank of Senegal to provide a fast loan channel for farmers to purchase agricultural machinery and equipment. At present, the company is actively planning to hold machinery and maintenance training courses to help local partners cultivate talents and improve agricultural machinery knowledge, operation ability and maintenance skills.

At present, the company has more than 50 kinds of agricultural machinery suitable for local use, including peanut picker, sheller, rice mill, rice combine harvester, agricultural tricycle and so on. The company has helped more than 1000 people find employment, promoted the development of Agricultural Mechanization in Senegal, effectively implemented the "the Belt and Road" initiative, and become a non-governmental envoy of China Senegal friendship. Wang zengxing said that in November last year, Serbian Minister of agriculture Musa bard and Tourism Minister alion Sal visited the company successively, praised the company's contribution to the development of Agricultural Mechanization in Serbia, and hoped to see more Chinese enterprises in the agricultural machinery industry come to Serbia to develop and start businesses.

Xiao Han, Chinese ambassador to Senegal, said that China will encourage more enterprises to invest and build factories in Senegal, and gradually change the current mode of shipping parts from China to Senegal for assembly into the mode of localized production in Senegal, so as to make greater contributions to the mechanization of agriculture and the increase of employment in Senegal.