In the case of most African countries, despite commitments to increase public investment to agriculture, including research, training and agri-logistic, such support is not adequate due to the pace of change, writes Julian May in his latest commentary published by the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI). Key drivers of this change include urbanisation and population growth; economic prosperity and the growing middle class; and climate change. According to the African Union, public and private investments of over US$45 billion per annum will be required over the next decade if the agriculture value-chains of Africa’s countries are to realise their potential: a potential estimated to be US$1 trillion. The Forum on China African Cooperation (FOCAC) is one way in which the required investments, markets and innovations can be leveraged.
FOCAC is sometimes regarded with suspicion, especially by Africa’s trading partners in the West, but also by African stakeholders concerned about the risk of debt, the dumping of inferior Chinese industrial products and the lack of technology transfer from China. However, FOCAC has resulted in increased commerce and investment. Trade between China and Africa has grown 20-fold and reached $208.9 billion in 2019. Total Chinese foreign direct investment in Africa was $49.1 billion in 2019, reflecting a 100-fold increase. And more than $200 billion in Chinese financial support had been provided by 2019. If strategically managed by all stakeholders, including pan-African institutions, FOCAC can play an important role in the attainment of desired food system goals.
There is no single African food system. With over 2,000 languages, 3,000 ethnic groups, and 54 countries, the continent contains a diversity of food cultures and food environments. At the same time, the drivers and components of any food system are part of a worldwide food regime that encompasses the biosphere, a globalizing political economy, and cultural globalization. The most productive 10 African countries, notably Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria, generate 75% of Africa’s farming output. But the Africa’s reliance on food imports is still very high, which is reflected in the continent’s cereal import dependency ratio that was one of the highest in the world at 31.1% between 2016-2018. At the same time, the continent accounts for 60% of the world’s global uncultivated arable land, estimated at 600 million hectares.
Following the creation of the FOCAC in 2000, China–Africa trade rose from US$2 billion to US$170 billion in 2019. By 2018, ten African countries had also signed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation agreements. FOCAC and BRI are important in improving the contribution of African food systems to the continent’s progress toward the SDG’s. With intra-African agricultural trade as a percentage of total African agricultural trade consistantly remaining below 20%, one aspect of this relates to investments in infrastructure, particularly road and rail transportation. The plan to establish the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) is significant to the ambitions of FOCAC since trade is also the foundation of China-Africa cooperation. Since 2005, China rose from ranking 7th among Africa’s agricultural export destinations to 5th, displacing traditional destinations such as the UK and Italy.
In short, the Chinese approach to development cooperation does not separate aid, diplomacy, and commerce. Chinese financing is recognized as being neither free nor altruistic. But, as the Brookings Institute points out, that is not the point. Rather, how Africa better utilizes the opportunities China creates and avoids the traps it brings is the issue that requires attention. At risk is that inappropriate technologies may be pushed onto African-owned enterprises, and that even if well-meaning, Chinese agri-technicians may lack the developmental expertise that is required to work in Africa’s rural communities. Key for meaningful FOCAC contributions to food system transformation in Africa is that the design, management and practice of agriculture technology transfer projects more effectively address the tension between sharing Chinese knowledge and learning from African partners.
