三、加强农业与粮食安全合作

    　农业事关非洲的发展稳定和脱贫减困，是大部分非洲国家的支柱产业和优先发展领域，中非双方在农业领域具有良好的合作条件和广阔的合作前景。中国政府重视同非洲国家在农业领域的互利合作，帮助非洲国家把资源优势转化为发展优势，实现农业可持续发展。

    　近年来，中非农产品贸易发展迅速。2009—2012年，中国对非洲农产品出口从15.8亿美元上升至24.9亿美元，增长了57.6％；中国自非洲农产品进口从11.6亿美元上升至28.6亿美元，增长了1.46倍，进口农产品中大部分是非食品类商品，包括棉麻丝、油籽和其他农产品。非洲农产品对华出口迅速增长的一个主要原因是，中国政府自2005年开始实行非洲国家部分输华商品零关税政策，非洲特色农产品作为主要受惠产品之一，对华出口得以快速增长。以芝麻为例，从2002年开始，中国自非洲少量进口芝麻。在零关税政策推动下，中国自非洲进口芝麻快速增长，进口额从2005年的0.97亿美元增加到2011年的4.41亿美元，年均增长率高达28.7％，高于同期中国自非洲进口全部商品的年均增速。

III. Strengthening Cooperation in Agriculture and Food Security

Agriculture is crucial for stable development and poverty reduction efforts in Africa. It is a pillar industry and a priority field for development in most African countries. China and Africa see favorable conditions and broad prospects for future agricultural cooperation. The Chinese government attaches great importance to its mutually beneficial agricultural cooperation with Africa, and works hard to help African countries turn resource advantages into developmental ones and sustainably develop their agricultural capacities.

In recent years, Sino-African trade in agricultural products has grown quickly. From 2009 to 2012, China's agricultural exports to Africa grew from US$1.58 billion to US$2.49 billion, an increase of 57.6%. During the same period, China's agricultural imports from Africa grew from US$1.16 billion to US$2.86 billion, a 146% increase. Most imported agricultural products are non-food items, including cotton, hemp, silk, oilseeds and other such products.

A major reason for the rapid increase in Chinese imports of African agricultural products is the zero-tariff policy that the Chinese government adopted in 2005 for some African products. Agricultural products are a major category benefiting from this policy and, as a result, the export of specialty African agricultural products to China has grown rapidly. One example of the impact of this policy is provided by sesame. China started importing small amounts of sesame from Africa in 2002. After the zero-tariff policy was adopted, sesame imports grew rapidly, from US$97 million in 2005 to US$441 million in 2011, an annual increase of 28.7%. This rate of import increase is higher than the average growth rate of all products imported from Africa during the same period.