Advanced agricultural technology and global trade information may be only a click away for 1.6 million Guinea-Bissau people thanks to a new online information system.

The system, to be jointly developed by companies in China and Guinea-Bissau, will serve as a platform linking the African country to the world.

Guinea-Bissau President Joao Vieira witnessed the signing of a letter of intent between his Romano Investment Company and China's Jiuyi Net New Farming Information Technology Company in Beijing yesterday.

Vieira said his country welcomes Chinese enterprises. "To invest in Guinea-Bissau may be the start of China's further investment in the vast West and Middle Africa," he said.

As an agricultural country located in the western part of Africa, Guinea-Bissau produces rice, cashews, fish, timber and tropical fruits, but the country's farming and information technologies still lag far behind.

During a meeting with President Hu Jintao on Wednesday, Vieira said Guinea-Bissau would like to deepen co-operation with China in agriculture, fishery and energy.

However, Guinea-Bissau is not the only country that wants to share China's experience in agriculture.

Bamidele Dada, minister of Nigeria for Agriculture and Rural Development, said that his country is also eager to share China's experience in feeding people and exporting agricultural produce, according to a recent Xinhua report.

"China is capable of feeding 1.3 billion people and exporting a wide range of agricultural produce. It has much experience to share with us, who are faced with similar problems," he was quoted as saying.

Dada said Nigeria wants to attract more Chinese investors and agronomists, especially in farming, fishing, aquaculture and agricultural processing.

The processing of cocoa and cassava, tractor making, production of chemical fertilizers and rural infrastructure construction are listed as priorities.

He said China and Nigeria have made much progress in agricultural co-operation. About 500 Chinese experts took part in the Nigerian National Special Programme for Food Security funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2003.

The experts, based in 36 Nigerian states, have helped local communities overcome a shortage of water for drinking and irrigation while teaching local farmers planting, fishing and beekeeping skills.

Ma Lina, a Chinese expert in Abuja, the country's capital, is helping a local family to raise rabbits. She told Xinhua that she offered the family three baby rabbits in February, which are now adults with three newborns of their own.

Fu Qingju, another expert in Abuja, is teaching local people to grow potatoes. "The produce per hectare will be up by 15 to 20 per cent with our technology," she was quoted as saying.

Since the 1960s when China started agricultural co-operation with Africa, the country has launched more than 200 agricultural projects and sent thousands of experts.

In recent years, China has also seen a growing number of African professionals coming to China to learn new skills.

Figures from China's Ministry of Commerce show that more than 11,000 professionals from Africa have received training in China since 2004 in areas such as trade, agriculture, forestry, fishery, public health, telecommunications, education and environmental protection.

John Koroma from Sierra Leone has just finished two weeks of training on integrated plant management, a programme sponsored by China's Ministry of Agriculture.