The Food and Agriculture Organization is going to carry out a $ 30 million trust fund being set up by China for supporting agricultural projects in Africa. The aim is to improve farming output in the developing African countries and help them achieve Millennium Development Goals. The fund is meant to last for three years and will get $ 10 million each year. The fund comes in addition to the technical assistance China has been providing to African agriculture for the last few years. Africa has all the resources to ensure high agricultural output, but has never been successful. In the last four years China has posted some 400 experts in developing African countries. With this Trust, China has cemented its role as a global player in developing countries.
The China Development Bank has granted loans worth millions of dollars to agricultural processing firms in East Africa. Chinese assistance has been provided to plan crops of cereals as well as cash crops like rubber and pine. Angola has received a $ 1 billion agricultural loan from Beijing to improve the sector after decades of war. Senegal recently signed a deal to sell 10,000 tons of groundnut oil to China during Chinese premier Hu Jintao’s visit.
After all its investments in mining, infrastructure and industry, China seems to have focused on agriculture now. Its interest in oil is not just for crude, but also olive oil. The global recession is being used by Beijing to push investment in primary commodities, and agriculture in African offers enormous scope for improvement and investment. However, it is not buying farmland, instead it is providing technical expertise and equipment to increase food grain output which would be mutually beneficial. China is convinced that agricultural development is the best way to alleviate poverty in rural Africa. Increased output would also keep food prices at affordable levels for the locals. Eventually, Africa’s agricultural sector must also be able to post profits, as non-profit production cannot be sustained for long. Chinese agricultural investors, who made profits in one African nation, are spreading their interests in other countries as well.
source : China Africa
Tags: Africa, agriculture, Angola, China, east africa
