China’s involvement with African infrastructure and industrial development has been written about and discussed in every corner of the world, and there is no denying the fact that China’s advancement can be credited, to a large extent, to its oil sourcing from Angola, Nigeria and Sudan, and its minerals from Zambia, Liberia and South Africa. Whether this should be perceived as a resource grab, as many in the western world do, or be accepted as a compassionate overture, as China reiterates, is a matter of discussion. The latest in the series of its interests in Africa is agriculture, which again, is a topic of debate whether it is self-serving or concern based. Africa has the resources and potential to become one of the world’s prominent food grain suppliers. Yet it remains one of the largest recipients of food aid from global organizations. China with its increasing population of billons to feed plans to grow food in Africa using its own technology, labor and resources on African land and then ship back the entire produce. Would this agricultural development of Africa be treated as Africa’s progress for Africa’s benefit or for China’s benefit, remains to be seen. Its involvement on agriculture in Mozambique will serve as a prelude to things in store for other countries promising land for agricultural development to China. The Asian tiger promised $800 million for the modernization of agriculture in Mozambique, including the construction of dams and canals to divert water towards the highly arable land. Research by Chinese scientists continues in various institutes set up, again by the Chinese. The Africans are happy with the potential benefits of this rather than present ones. Reports by two UN policy centers reveal that only a few of these land leases are rent or fee based, the others are given in return of the hope for growth, development and employment. The development is taking place with Chinese contractors getting jobs to do and make profits in the process, while the local Africans end up losing subsistence farmland. China is certainly not growing food for the Africans, as is evident from the amount of rice that is being planted in the fields everywhere, since rice is not part of the African staple diet.

The Chinese perspective deserves a mention as well. There is no denying the fact that millions have been invested in “problematic” zones with no infrastructure or easy operations with no obstructions at every step. The same investment elsewhere would have borne fruit sooner and would have been hassle free as well. That it cares about Africa’s growth has triggered its interest and is making efforts to set up agricultural cooperatives, which does include local participation. Its rice growing interest may one day yield income from exports of rice to countries with huge demands of the grain. The world is too advanced to allow colonial kind of exploitation or one-sided benefits. China is positively giving some to get some and the same holds true for Africa.

Source : Business Africa