china’s global land investments siani expert group 1 st meeting
DESCRIPTION
The first SIANI expert group meeting on China’s global land-investments was held at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in Stockholm, on 18 October 2011. This report provides a brief summary of the content of discussion and a brief re-cap of the purpose of the expert group. It is primarily intended to “re-fresh” the memory of those that participated, and to give an indication to those that could not participate of what topics were discussed.TRANSCRIPT
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?
