china’s global land investments siani expert group 1 st meeting

China’s global land investments

SIANI expert group

1st meeting

18 October 2011

Post-it questions

1. Which agricultural commodities account for China’s biggest import from Africa?

2. What factors determine China’s (agricultural) investments in African countries, and elsewhere?

3. What’s the biggest threat/risk of China’s global land-investments?

4. What’s the biggest opportunity of Chinese investments in Africa?

“Land-deals must be assessed in the light of the often complex overall package they are a part of… the land-grab emphasised by some media

is only part of the equation.”

Land grab or development opportunity? Agricultural investment

and international land deals in Africa,

FAO 2009, p. 101

China’s land-investments and agricultural engagement in Africa

1. Drivers of China’s engagement

2. The extent and type of Chinese engagement in Africa

3. Zooming in on agriculture

Preferential loans and grants

Non-intervention Mutual benefit

Business driven development model

Agriculture largely about aid

• 1960-1980s: – Large, state-owned farms

– Entirely Chinese operated, production for host country

• 1985: farms in 25 African countries • 35 world wide, 48,000 hectares of farmland.

• But, competitiveness and difficulty of keeping large-state owned farm efficient forced change of strategy

Go global strategy

• 1990s: more ‘business oriented’

• Overseas engagement enable development at home and abroad

• Integrate aid and Chinese enterprises – Chinese companies involved in leadership roles of

former aid projects.

– Tools for Chinese business engagement in Africa

Today, various types of Chinese

engagement • Technical cooperation centres

• 100s of small and medium scale farms

• One million Chinese agricultural workers on African continent

• Farms produce almost exclusively for local sales

• Or, sell exclusive goods to international market

The great Chinese global land grab

“The Great Chinese land-grab is on.”

(Asian Times, July 2010)

“Fears of Chinese land grab as Beijing's billions buy up resources”

(Independent, June 2009)

”The food rush: Rising demand in China and west sparks African land grab.”

(Guardian, June 2008)

“Extensive farmland for soybean production in Brazil” (Financial Times)

Chinese business man aquires 10,000 ha for rice production in Cameroon (TF1, French TV)

Chinese government has invested extensively in infrastructure in Mozambique to farm rice (Loro Horta,

son of East Timor’s President)

Blackgrain has invested “several hundred million USD” in farmland South of the Sahara (Chinese Economic Observer)

Dilemmas on many levels

• Agricultural aid possible?

• Can Chinese land-related activities be perceived as anything other than exploitative?

• Is it under any circumstance OK to use foreign land as a tool for growth?