Aiding African agriculture sector
Chinese cooperation, infrastructure support prove vital for continent’s farm development
Agriculture represents a significant part of AfricaChina friendship and cooperation and is of fundamental importance to both. Chinese involvement in African agriculture has a long history dating back to the late 1950s when China started to provide agricultural support to the continent. China’s model of agricultural cooperation in Africa is formed through applying the experiences from China’s own agricultural development to the African continent.
Agriculture is a major source of income for most countries in Africa and particularly for the rural population of vast parts of Africa. It accounts for over half of the continent’s total employment and more than 32 percent of Africa’s gross domestic product. Even though Africa possesses 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated and arable land, it has remained a net importer of food.
It is in this context that African governments have consistently viewed agriculture as an important driver of growth, development and jobs on the continent. The African Union adopted the Comprehensive
Africa Agriculture Development Programme in 2003, a framework which aims to accelerate coordinated economic and structural transformation by improving agricultural productivity.
Over the past decade, the rapidly growing Africa-China agricultural cooperation has increasingly focused on increased cooperation between Africa’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme and its goals, and the Forum on China and Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, there is scope for more cooperation to improve and enable African agriculture to concretely contribute to achieving national and continental goals amid the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Africa faces a huge infrastructure funding deficit, and 52 countries and the African Union Commission have committed to the China-led BRI as signatories. Underpinned by the goals of policy coordination, connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-topeople relations, the BRI has seen over 3,000 development projects including ports, highways, railways, power plants, 4G and 5G wireless networks, bridges and airports, all of which contribute significantly to the promotion and the modernization of industrial and agricultural sectors in Africa.
The signing of an agreement between China and the African Union in December 2020 provided momentum for expanded Belt and Road cooperation. The agreement, among other things, defined the scope and content of BRI cooperation projects in fields such as infrastructure, connectivity, communication, trade and people-to-people exchanges, as well as funding and project timetables.
An event of note that undoubtedly injected significant momentum into Africa and China friendship was the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue in Johannesburg on Aug 24, during which it was announced that China would launch a plan on China supporting Africa’s agricultural modernization. This plan will support Africa to expand grain plantation and encourage Chinese companies to increase agricultural investment in Africa.
During the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on Oct 18 in Beijing, eight major steps were announced by China in support of the joint pursuit of highquality Belt and Road cooperation. These measures are focused on promoting integrity-based Belt and Road cooperation, a multidimensional Belt and Road connectivity network, promoting green development, advancing scientific and technological innovation, continuing all round practical cooperation and supporting people-to-people exchanges.
These are all steps that will have a wide impact on and deliver tangible results for agricultural cooperation between Africa and China.
Since the BRI’s inception, a total of 34 agricultural cooperation documents have been signed with 19 African countries, the AU and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. China has built 24 agricultural technology demonstration centers in Africa, benefiting more than 1 million small farmers on the continent. In terms of personnel exchanges, China has recently also sent more than 400 agricultural experts to Africa and trained more than 10,000 managerial and technical personnel for African countries.
What is also of growing significance is that Africa is increasingly prioritizing the need to embark on more interconnected agricultural trade in the wake of the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. One of the overriding goals of this initiative is interconnectivity which increasingly resonates with the BRI. As such, the construction of railways under the framework of the BRI has boosted trade relations among African countries.
Africa attaches great importance to its mutually beneficial agricultural cooperation with China which has rapidly grown, establishing a solid foundation for future practical cooperation. This cooperation proves once again that China has followed the right direction in advancing BRI cooperation with the continent, and BRI partners in Africa continue to show firm commitment to participating in and embarking on highquality Belt and Road projects for mutual benefits.
The author is a senior research fellow at the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University and a former senior diplomat in the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.