January 13 is a significant day which marks 40 th anniversary of the establishment of Kim Il Sung Institute of Agricultural Science in Guinea.

On this day, we recollect with deep emotions the heartwarming story behind the establishment of the institute of agricultural science in Guinea-a long way off beyond the continent and the ocean-which shines as a symbol of friendship between the two countries together with the august name of President Kim Il Sung .

President Kim Il Sung , in his speech made at the Consultative Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture from Eastern and Western Africa who attended the Symposium of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries on Increasing Food and Agricultural Production held in Pyongyang in August 1981, taught in detail a direction and specific tasks to increase agricultural production in the East and West African countries. As one of its solutions, he proposed establishing an institute of agricultural science in Guinea.

In November that year, President Kim Il Sung dispatched our agro-experts to Guinea as a field survey mission to establish the institute. He also took an immediate step to send materials and equipment such as cement, steel materials and tractors needed for building and operating the institute, saying that it should be built well to stand as an example in Africa even though it costs a lot of money.

It is under such meticulous care of President Kim Il Sung that the institute of agricultural science came to be built splendidly in Kindia Province, Guinea on January 13, 1982.

The then President Ahmed Sékou Touré and other high-ranking officials and people of Guinea saw to it that the institute be named after the august name of President Kim Il Sung , out of their boundless gratitude and admiration for him who had rendered both material and moral support for the agricultural development in their country.

Kim Il Sung Institute of Agricultural Science in Guinea made wonderful sci-tech successes from the first year of its inception. It made a great contribution to yielding as much as 5-8 tons of rice and corn per hectare even without applying fertilizer on the land which had produced only 1 ton previously. From that time on, the institute has been trying to develop and introduce new varieties of grain seeds and cultivating techniques suitable for the climatic and soil conditions of Guinea.

Today, the institute is playing an important role in training the agro-technicians in Guinea and from other West African countries and in developing and disseminating advanced agricultural methods and producing seeds.

President Kim Il Sung took benevolent steps of dispatching our competent agro-experts and technicians to several African countries including Guinea, Uganda and Equatorial Guinea in order to help these countries build their own experimental farms.

Kim Il Sung Institute of Agricultural Science in Guinea, which was built in African continent as a symbol of DPRK-Guinea friendship, will hand down forever the immortal exploits of President Kim Il Sung who devoted his all to the agricultural development in Guinea and assisted African countries with all sincerity in their works to develop agriculture and solve food problems.

Korea-Africa Association highly appreciates the Guinean people for their efforts to meet the food need by putting efforts to the agricultural development. It will make active contributions to expanding and developing the cooperative relations between two countries and peoples in agriculture and other fields.

Korea-Africa Association