Forum on China-Africa Cooperation | 7 January 2012
On October 18, 2011, Lu Shaye, Director-General of the Department of African Affairs, accepted an interview with Jean-Louis Gouraud, a journalist from Jeune Afrique. The full text of the interview is available here.
(Below is an excerpt)
Q: China is encountering growing pressure on the arable land, thus China has been increasing agricultural investment in Africa and wants to buy more land to meet food needs and other needs. Reportedly, not all the land acquired, developed and operated by China in Africa is used to ensure food security. The big farms of China have seriously impacted the survival of local small farms. Has the agricultural sector become the new growth pole for China's investment in Africa?
A: China's agricultural cooperation with African countries is mainly concentrated in the following areas: first, the construction of agricultural infrastructure; second, agricultural technology cooperation and transfer; third, personnel training. For example, we sent two agricultural technology groups to Senegal to help local farmers produce rice and vegetables. Such cooperation belongs to the category of traditional areas of agricultural cooperation. Among the eight initiatives announced by China In 2006 and 2009, the construction of agricultural technology demonstration centers were included. The main purpose is to train local staff, transfer technology and help improve local agricultural production levels. We also donated agricultural machineries to African countries.
Commercial agricultural cooperation between enterprises also emerged. The Chinese companies are engaged in agricultural development in Africa, but they are not big farms, but small farms. Compared with big farms of western countries, our farms are insignificant. In fact, China's agricultural development in Africa is to help Africa increase food production and address local food security issue. China has never taken away one single grain from Africa. The Chinese enterprises also plant cash crops to help African farmers increase their income. For instance, a Chinese company helped the local farmers produce cotton in Malawi and address the bread-and-butter issue of 50,000 local farmers. Chinese enterprises are also engaged in sesame plantation in Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali. We also have small farms in Zambia, such as poultry farms. I know that the example you mentioned comes from a program of BBC, saying that the local people in Zambia felt that their business was impacted by Chinese farms. Indeed, Chinese farms do supply most of eggs and chicken to the capital of Lusaka. It does constitute competition with local farms, but Chinese farms helped the local people resolve the supply problem.
Western countries always say China is "enclosing land" in Africa. In fact, China has not enclosed land in Africa; on the contrary I know that the west has enclosed a lot of land in Africa. The western countries have enclosed a total of 30 million hectares of land, equivalent to the half of France. They used the land not to grow food and solve the feeding problem of Africans, but to grow the so-called bio-fuel crops. A British bio-fuel company enclosed about 1.6 million hectares of land in Africa. This is not disclosed by China's research institutions, but by a British research institution.
Q: Hasn't China procured a large area of arable land in Madagascar?
A: I thought you might mistake. It was Koreans who did it. I learned that Daewoo of the Republic of Korea bought more than 1 million hectares of land, but the government of Madagascar later canceled the deal. In addition to western countries, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Gulf States also enclosed a large amount of land in Africa. I really hope that this issue can be clarified to the readers through you and let them know what's really going on.
On October 18, 2011, Lu Shaye, Director-General of the Department of African Affairs, accepted an interview with Jean-Louis Gouraud, a journalist from Jeune Afrique. The full text of the interview is available here.
(Below is an excerpt)
Q: China is encountering growing pressure on the arable land, thus China has been increasing agricultural investment in Africa and wants to buy more land to meet food needs and other needs. Reportedly, not all the land acquired, developed and operated by China in Africa is used to ensure food security. The big farms of China have seriously impacted the survival of local small farms. Has the agricultural sector become the new growth pole for China's investment in Africa?
A: China's agricultural cooperation with African countries is mainly concentrated in the following areas: first, the construction of agricultural infrastructure; second, agricultural technology cooperation and transfer; third, personnel training. For example, we sent two agricultural technology groups to Senegal to help local farmers produce rice and vegetables. Such cooperation belongs to the category of traditional areas of agricultural cooperation. Among the eight initiatives announced by China In 2006 and 2009, the construction of agricultural technology demonstration centers were included. The main purpose is to train local staff, transfer technology and help improve local agricultural production levels. We also donated agricultural machineries to African countries.
Commercial agricultural cooperation between enterprises also emerged. The Chinese companies are engaged in agricultural development in Africa, but they are not big farms, but small farms. Compared with big farms of western countries, our farms are insignificant. In fact, China's agricultural development in Africa is to help Africa increase food production and address local food security issue. China has never taken away one single grain from Africa. The Chinese enterprises also plant cash crops to help African farmers increase their income. For instance, a Chinese company helped the local farmers produce cotton in Malawi and address the bread-and-butter issue of 50,000 local farmers. Chinese enterprises are also engaged in sesame plantation in Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali. We also have small farms in Zambia, such as poultry farms. I know that the example you mentioned comes from a program of BBC, saying that the local people in Zambia felt that their business was impacted by Chinese farms. Indeed, Chinese farms do supply most of eggs and chicken to the capital of Lusaka. It does constitute competition with local farms, but Chinese farms helped the local people resolve the supply problem.
Western countries always say China is "enclosing land" in Africa. In fact, China has not enclosed land in Africa; on the contrary I know that the west has enclosed a lot of land in Africa. The western countries have enclosed a total of 30 million hectares of land, equivalent to the half of France. They used the land not to grow food and solve the feeding problem of Africans, but to grow the so-called bio-fuel crops. A British bio-fuel company enclosed about 1.6 million hectares of land in Africa. This is not disclosed by China's research institutions, but by a British research institution.
Q: Hasn't China procured a large area of arable land in Madagascar?
A: I thought you might mistake. It was Koreans who did it. I learned that Daewoo of the Republic of Korea bought more than 1 million hectares of land, but the government of Madagascar later canceled the deal. In addition to western countries, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Gulf States also enclosed a large amount of land in Africa. I really hope that this issue can be clarified to the readers through you and let them know what's really going on.
