Increase investment and strengthen cooperation with China African countries take multiple measures to promote agricultural development (international perspective)
In recent years, African countries and China have continued to strengthen agricultural cooperation and achieved fruitful results. Thanks to the support of Chinese agricultural experts, Burundi, an East African country, has successfully improved rice varieties, and the planting area of hybrid rice has continued to expand, which has greatly increased rice production and achieved sustainable development. The picture shows that in a rice poverty reduction demonstration village in Bubanza Province, Burundi, local farmers are threshing hybrid rice in the paddy field.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Han Xu
The report “Shaping the Future of Business and Investment” recently released by the World Economic Forum pointed out that in the past 20 years, the average annual growth rate of agricultural output in Africa was 4.1%, which was higher than the global average. If we can make full use of the development advantages of the African Continental Free Trade Area, expand investment and meet challenges, the agricultural output value in Africa is expected to increase from the current US$280 billion to US$1 trillion in 2030. The report believes that the potential for agricultural development in Africa is huge, and promoting agricultural development will help countries in the region increase income, expand employment, reduce poverty, promote inclusive growth of related industries, and build a solid foundation for sustainable economic development.
At present, African countries are constantly strengthening their awareness of food self-sufficiency, increasing agricultural support, actively carrying out international cooperation, striving to improve the level of agricultural development, and promoting agriculture to scale and modernize.
Huge potential for regional agricultural development
Africa’s agricultural output value accounts for about 1/3 of Africa’s regional GDP and absorbs most of the African continent’s labor force. It is of great significance in realizing the coordinated development of population, resources and environment. Senegalese President Macky Sall said: “Africa has 65% of the world’s uncultivated arable land and abundant water resources, and there is great potential for regional agriculture to be developed.”
However, due to the overall low level of agricultural mechanization and insufficient water conservancy infrastructure, African countries have a low rate of food self-sufficiency. The total annual grain output is only 200 million tons, and the average annual grain import is 85 million tons. African agriculture and food systems are also highly vulnerable to climate change, regional conflicts and other external factors. In 2022, the Horn of Africa will encounter the worst drought in 40 years, a large number of crops will fail or even fail, and tens of millions of people will face food shortages.
Kineuchi, an expert on international affairs in Kenya, said that African countries are less capable of adapting to and responding to climate change, and floods and droughts have become more frequent, seriously affecting the food security of countries in the region. Paul Frimpong, executive director of the Africa-China Policy Advisory Center, a think tank in Ghana, believes that various factors affect African agricultural production and food security, prompting African countries to accelerate the pace of self-reliance.
Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, believes that Africa’s agricultural and food sectors are severely underfunded, exacerbating food insecurity, and are hindering the future development of the entire African continent. He called on the international community and African countries to strengthen cooperation and coordination to eliminate bottlenecks that limit the development potential of African countries.
Accelerate the upgrading of modernization level
Anandler, a researcher in the South African agricultural sector, believes that the continuous advancement of the construction of the African Continental Free Trade Area will help agricultural enterprises benefit from intra-African trade. If African countries further increase agricultural investment, it is estimated that by 2050, the scale of Africa’s comprehensive agricultural trade is expected to increase by 30%. This will further unleash the development potential of the African continent and promote the prosperity and development of African countries. At present, African countries continue to introduce agricultural assistance policies, continuously increase capital and technology investment, and accelerate the promotion of agricultural modernization. AU member states have previously pledged to spend 10 percent of their national budgets on food and agricultural production.
The Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture has recently issued a policy to transfer 500,000 acres of idle land controlled by state-owned enterprises to the private agricultural sector for development and utilization, and provide loans to relevant agricultural entities to develop and promote new technologies and promote agricultural mechanization. The “Kenya Million Farmers Digital Platform” launched by the country has also attracted much attention. The project aims to attract 1 million farmers to enjoy digital agricultural services. Through more than 900 technological innovations and management practices, it provides real-time climate-smart agricultural advice, market information push, credit and insurance services, etc., to further improve Kenyan agricultural productivity.
Zambia has vast agricultural land and abundant water resources, with great potential for food production. Zambia regards agricultural reform and increasing agricultural output as an important part of the government’s work, and implements the “Agricultural Growth Opportunities Plan” with a total investment of 300 million U.S. dollars. By increasing public expenditure on farmland and water conservancy departments, promoting local crops and food, etc., it promotes the inclusiveness of agriculture sexual growth.
The Tanzanian government has continuously strengthened cooperation with international financial institutions, focusing on supporting agricultural commercialization, stimulating innovation in the agricultural industry, and ensuring the country’s food supply. Over the past 10 years, Tanzania’s agricultural output has doubled. At present, Tanzania has hundreds of thousands of medium-scale farms, and the output value created by employing agricultural labor alone exceeds US$300 million.
International and regional organizations are also actively providing assistance for regional agricultural development to stimulate the growth potential of African agriculture. Last year, the African Development Bank introduced measures to increase grain production in Africa, focusing on providing heat-resistant wheat seeds to 1.8 million farmers in 7 African countries through the “African Agricultural Transformation Technology” program, increasing wheat production by more than 1.4 million tons.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has developed a roadmap for the “four betters” for accelerated agricultural development in Africa: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all, leaving no one behind. Twenty-seven African countries are currently participating in FAO’s flagship project, “Acting Together”, which aims to identify gaps in global agricultural transformation and match countries with partners to achieve tangible mutual outcomes. In 2019, FAO also launched the “One Country, One Priority Product” initiative in Africa to support countries in developing unique agricultural and sideline products with sustainable development potential, building a more complete value chain and enhancing international market competitiveness.
China-Africa agricultural cooperation continues to deepen
Kritan Bahana, editor-in-chief of South Africa’s “Diplomacy” magazine, said that China has always been a strong supporter of the modernization of African agriculture, from grain breeding, cultivation, field management, to the construction of farmland infrastructure, and then to the agricultural trade opening policy. China-China agricultural cooperation continues to deepen.
In Kenya, maize production, one of the staple foods, has been unable to achieve self-sufficiency for a long time. In April 2022, the China-Africa Joint Research Center in Kenya used Chinese technology to try out local white corn varieties, increasing production by about 50%. David Mburu, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, said: “This bumper harvest is of great significance to African countries such as Kenya.”
In Madagascar, the hybrid rice varieties introduced from Hunan, China have been harvested year after year. It is estimated that by 2024, Madagascar’s hybrid rice planting area will reach 150,000 hectares, and rice production will increase by about 500,000 tons. Madagascar is on track to become the first African country to become self-sufficient in food.
China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years. The structure of China-Africa trade continues to be optimized, and China has taken the initiative to expand imports of non-resource products from Africa to help more African agricultural products enter the Chinese market. In 2022, China will import USD 5.196 billion worth of agricultural products from Africa. China has become Africa’s second largest export destination of agricultural products.
“2022 will be a year of bumper agricultural harvest for South Africa.” said Wandile Silob, chief economist at the South African Chamber of Agriculture, that South Africa’s agricultural export revenue will hit a new record of US$12.8 billion in 2022, an increase of 4% over the previous year. He said that many African countries are looking for export destinations for their ever-increasing agricultural products. A series of mutually beneficial agricultural trade agreements signed between Africa and China will help African agriculture further develop.
At the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China announced the establishment of a “green channel” for the export of African agricultural products to China to support and facilitate more high-quality and characteristic agricultural and food products from Africa to enter the Chinese market. More and more African specialty agricultural products, such as citrus from South Africa, sesame from Tanzania, avocado from Kenya, and dried peppers from Rwanda, have entered the Chinese market.
In August 2022, Kenya exported avocados to China for the first time. In just three months, the total amount of Kenyan avocado exports to China has reached 400 million yuan, exceeding Kenya’s total avocado exports in the first seven months of last year. Benjamin Tito, director of the Kenya Horticultural Bureau, said: “China provides great opportunities for the sustainable development of African agriculture.”
(Newspaper Johannesburg, July 30th)
“People’s Daily” (version 15, July 31, 2023)
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2023-07-31 15:06:00
