University of Groningen
China's relationships with Africa re-appraised
Jiang, Bin
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Jiang, B. (2019). China's relationships with Africa re-appraised: the lense of domestic experiences in agricultural technology extension and its reflection in China's foreign policy towards Africa. University of Groningen.
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CHINA’S RELATIONSHIPS
WITH AFRICA RE-APPRAISED:
The Lense of Domestic
Experiences in Agricultural
Technology Extension and Its
Reflection in China’s Foreign
Policy towards Africa
The research presented in this thesis was performed at the Department of International Relations and International Organizations, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
The research conducted in this thesis was financially supported by
China Scholarship Council (CSC) University of Groningen
Paranymphs
Dr.Yingying Cong Annisa Paramita Wiharani
The printing of this thesis was financially supported by
University of Groningen Graduate School of Humanities Globalisation Studies Groningen
Cover designed by B. Jiang & TM Design China Printed by Gildeprint
English editor: Anna Yeadell-Moore ISBN: 978-94-034-1523-9
ISBN: 978-94-034-1522-2 (Ebook)
Copyright © 2019 B. Jiang. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author and
China’s relationships
with Africa re-appraised
The lense of domestic experiences in
agricultural technology extension and its
reflection in China’s foreign policy towards
Africa
PhD thesis
to obtain the degree of PhD at the
University of Groningen
on the authority of the
Rector Magnificus prof. E. Sterken
and in accordance with
the decision by the College of Deans.
This thesis will be defended in public on
Wednesday 18 April 2019 at 11.00 hours
by
Bin Jiang
born on 1 May 1989
Supervisors
Prof. J. Herman Dr. Y. ZhaoAssessment Committee
Prof. O. Moore Prof. A. Zwitter Prof. T. ZuoAcknowledgement
I still remember the first day I saw Groningen. I was totally attracted to its quiet and unique style. After all these years, Groningen has become my second home. I cannot believe that all those years have now passed; my first impression of this city is still so fresh in my mind, just as if it was yesterday when I first arrived.
I think that coming to Groningen for my Ph.D. study is one of the best choices that I made in my life. I enjoyed every minute of it, even though there were some tough times. Life is so magical, it’s just like a dream that I had about finishing this book. For this book, I have travelled to Tanzania twice for all the material I needed to complete it; also, I still remember I stayed in China for two whole months to collect all the data for my study; these were such interesting and challenging experiences that I had never had.
Looking back at these years in Groningen and my Ph.D. research, there are so many reasons to be grateful, and I would like to acknowledge all the people that have supported me in different ways, so that I could take this wonderful journey with such joy.
Dear Prof. Joost Herman, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for all your efforts and help during my Ph.D. research journey and for being my promotor. I remember the first time we met in Beijing at the China Agricultural University, you were so kind and also invited me to the conference at Beijing University. During that conference, I found out about the joy of sharing thoughts and cooperation. It was that conference that made me make my final decision to apply for a Ph.D. position under your supervision. That conference made me realise that embarking on research and sharing thoughts are what I want to do with my life. After I came to Groningen, you were always offering effective suggestions for my research and writing, and these gave me energy and inspiration to finish my research and the dissertation.
Dear Dr. Yongjun Zhao, I want to thank you for all the help and care you gave to my Ph.D. life. You are not only my supervisor but also my friend in some ways. I remember you and your wife had made super delicious Chinese dinners for me and Yingruo, and we chatted until almost the next morning. Those memories are still as fresh as yesterday. I also remember the first time we met, you and Joost invited me to the conference
at Beijing University, which was such an amazing memory and influenced my future choice for staying in academia. What’s more, thank you for inviting me to the summer school in Tanzania; that was such a nice memory for me, and that gave me interest to go there the next year for my Ph.D. field work. Without the summer school, I would never have had the courage to go there for this purpose. For my study and writing, you always gave me great suggestions, which lead to the completion of my dissertation. Thank you, Dr. Yongjun!
Another important person that I would like to thank is Prof. Zuo Ting of the China Agricultural University. Prof. Zuo is the promotor of my master’s degree and my mentor for my interests in Development Studies. Much gratitude to you, Prof. Zuo, without you, I would never have learned about University of Groningen and had the chance to meet with Prof. Joost and Dr. Yongjun. Thank you so much for being on the assessment committee of my Ph.D. dissertation and helping me in so many different ways in the past eight years.
I want to thank Dr. Pieter Boele van Hensbroek. Dear Pieter, I still remember the summer school in Tanzania that you and Dr. Yongjun organised; you were super kind and humorous, I really learnt a lot from that summer school. Also, I was so happy that I joined your birthday party and met a lot of nice people there, especially your sweet family. This is an amazing memory. Pieter, you are always very supportive of all the Chinese events that I had organized in Groningen during the past years, and I was so grateful for having the chance to get to know you during my Ph.D. time.
Dear Prof. Oliver Moore and Prof. Tjalling Halbertsma, it was really my pleasure to meet you during my Ph.D. journey. You were both very kind and supportive of the Chinese events that I organised in the past years. I still remember that the first time Oliver spoke to me in perfect mandarin, it amazed me so much that you called me Jiang Bin instead of Bin Jiang. And Tjalling, it was such a joy to meet you and your sweet family at Pieter’s birthday party, we had such a great time. Dear Elena, you are always so positive and energetic, we had so many interesting and nice conversations; also, your homemade soup is super tasty! Dear Jarno, Marijke, and Gorus, thank you so much for all the help you gave me all these years, I wish you all the best!
I want to express my appreciation for my excellent paranymphs
Yingying and Icha, thank you so much for being there during my Ph.D. life.
I would have never known that we could become such great friends. I know it is always hard to say goodbye, but I know no matter where in the world we will be later, we will always find a way to meet with each other. Dear Cong,
Yingruo and Bastiaan, thank you so much for being my good friends all
these years. The memory of the first day we met in the office is still so fresh, I can’t believe it’s already been more than five years. We had such great times with Icha, our dinners were always full of surprises and joy, our 533 group chat will stay forever, and I have faith that our friendship will last for the rest of our lives.
I am so grateful that I could get to know Alisa and Joëlle, these amazing ladies, we had such a great time empowering ourselves and enjoying great food and karaoke, you girls are so sweet and nice, I believe that we will meet in China soon. Dear Aynur, I really can’t believe that we have only known each other for such a short time but have had so many great memories, you deliver such positive attitudes toward life, and this gave me so many good influences. Then, I also want to say something to my friends from the Office Group, dear Sandra, Phillipp, Eric, Frank, and
Desiree, it was a great joy to meet you guys up in Groningen, the Gdansk
trip is a fantastic memory!
For my Pugilice friends, Ilse, Nataliya, Ben, and Luc, I am so happy that we could be on the board of Pugilice during my last period staying in Groningen, it’s been great fun and a joy working with you guys for Pugilice. I bet boxing will always be the thing that we love for our sports lives! For my Gopher music club friends, Elwin, AJ, Pieter, Frank, and Loek, it was a great show we gave for the Ph.D. Day 2018 Groningen with our awkward ‘Band name’, that was really an amazing evening, and Elwin, thanks for being there and performing with me during the Chinese Cultural Day, also, jamming with all of you was so much fun!
Dear Anna, thank you so much for helping me with editing the whole thesis! Dear Dr. Yingying, you helped me so much on my dissertation’s layout and cover design, I have learnt so much from you, thank you!
Then, I would like to write in Chinese for my family and my friends from the Chinese community with the following content.
致我最亲爱的家人和朋友们 时光如白驹过隙，格罗宁根这个名字已经刻在了我的人生石柱上。 这五年多的点点滴滴如昨日故事，在我脑海中反复回荡。这些年来，如 果没有我的家人，我的朋友们，我不知道我该怎么度过这段漂泊海外的 孤独时光。但正是因为有了你们一直在，所以我能这么顺利的度过这段 人生中难忘的光阴。 亲爱的爸爸妈妈，我不知道要用什么样的语言来表达我对您们的养 育之恩的感激。从小到大，您们对我的教养之情让女儿能够在面对各种 困难时都可以坚强度过，不论是酸甜苦辣，都可以坦然受之。这五年多 来，女儿经历了许多，但是因为有您们的支持和鼓励，让我能够完成这 本博士论文，完成我的博士研究。虽然您们看不懂我的论文，但是希望 您们能在这里看到女儿对你们的感恩之情，您们还陪着我去长沙县和涟 源县去做调研，这本论文，没有您们的帮助和支持，就不会得以完成。 谢谢亲爱的爸爸妈妈，我爱您们！ 亲爱的外公和外婆，您们千盼万盼的外孙女终于不负您们的期望， 完成了博士论文就要归国了，外公从小教育我要做一个有爱心的人，要 关注弱势群体，关注需要帮助的人们，所以我才会选择发展学，去关注 发展中国家的发展问题，我就是希望可以用自己的研究为那些需要得到 发展和帮助的人们做出一些自己的贡献，虽然博士论文完成了，但是我 的发展学的研究之路才刚刚开始。亲爱的外公外婆，记得您们送我出国 时，流着眼泪说要我平安学成归来，孙女这就要完成您们的嘱咐回到您 们的身边了，期盼与您们的相聚。 还有我亲爱的爷爷和奶奶，虽然您们已经身在天堂，但是孙女一直 没有忘记您们对我的期望，尤其是爷爷那句简单的“要好好学习、好好 生活”一直是我学习与生活中的座右铭。孙女即将学成归国，请您们在 天堂也安心。 亲爱的黄妈妈和郝爸爸，谢谢您们一直以来对我的理解与支持，我 希望回国后可以好好的陪陪您们！亲爱的姥爷、舅舅、舅妈、大伯、阿 姨、谭叔叔、小姑、春姐姐、志辉、虓虓、福盛，您们都是我最亲的亲 人，谢谢您们这么多年一直对我的照顾与关怀！
然后是亲爱的郝先生，谢谢你这么多年来一直在我的身后，陪我一 起体味人生的酸甜苦辣，我留学的这五年多，我们虽然经历过一些磨难， 但是庆幸的是我们没有被打败，我相信未来的生活会很美好！期待与你 在南宁的美好生活！ 接下来，我想感谢给我赴非调研大力支持的时任中华人民共和国驻 荷兰王国使馆教育处的王怡伟老师、中华人民共和国住坦桑尼亚联合共 和国经济商务代表处的孙成峰秘书、中国援建坦桑尼亚农业示范园的王 骞老师、陈华林老师等，如果没有您们的大力支持，我的赴坦调研之行 就不可能成功，也就不会有我此时此篇博士论文的完成了。再次衷心的 感谢您们！ 亲爱的萱姐、徐奇、还有苟海波老师等等诸位一起为南海仲裁案公 开信付出的朋友们，我真的很高兴也很荣幸可以在博士期间跟大家一起 为祖国做了这么有意义的事情，这段回忆将会是永恒的！ 亲爱的彭晨、Jacky、映秋，谢谢你们和我一起把中国文化日这个活 动成功举办了两年，尤其还要感谢孔子学院的刘婧一院长和曹雪飞院长， 还有亲爱的郑晶老师，如果没有您们的大力支持，我们就不可能运用学 联的平台将中国文化传递到格罗宁根来，这些都是我博士期间最美好的 回忆！ 亲爱的李倩、李林阳、伊阳磊、曹豪杰、刘博群，谢谢咱们的‘格 村私人会所’，在格罗宁根认识你们这几位大佬们并且和你们成为好哥 们，是我的荣幸与骄傲！期待与你们在国内再见！ 亲爱的孙宇，欣璐妹妹，我的呆子姐妹，在格罗宁根如果没有遇见 你，我不会留下那么多美好的回忆，咱们一起去旅行的点点滴滴也都印 刻在我的脑海里，期待咱们国内继续我们的旅行约定！ 亲爱的丛大哥，我实在是不记得咱们是从什么时候开始起成为了这 样的好哥们，真的太庆幸可以在格罗宁根结识你，从你身上我学会了什 么是严谨、什么是自律、什么是一丝不苟，虽然我跟你还有很大的差距， 但是我会继续向你学习！和你还有洋洋一起组织 JC Gather 真的是学到了 很多很多！可能我平时提问比较多，不要嫌我啰嗦啊！希望你在未来的 科研路上再创佳绩！
亲爱的段 C，谢谢你在格罗宁根成为我的好朋友、好姐妹，不论我们 未来会身处何处，你都永远是我的好姐妹，希望你能永远幸福快乐！不 论人生中遇到什么困难，都希望你可以坚强与坚定的闯过去！ 亲爱的夏天，谢谢你和大哥一直陪我参加唱歌比赛，虽然我一直让 你们失望，你们却一直支持我，哈哈，还有谢谢你那么多次的一起旅行， 尤其是咱们的波罗的海三国游，简直就是笑声长存的回忆！希望你未来 一切顺利！ 亲爱的黑仔，犹记得咱们的克罗地亚之旅，那么多的欢乐、那么多 的回忆，只希望你未来工作顺利！生活顺意！亲爱的潆若，五年的办公 室室友，我们几乎朝夕相处，多么珍贵的回忆，希望你一切顺利！亲爱 的淼，还记得咱们和妙直姐姐的摩洛哥之行吗？三条女汉子勇闯大北非， 撒哈拉沙漠吃鸡，那些回忆真是仿佛就在昨天，祝愿你未来万事顺心！ 还有鹏哥，星宇，咱们的突尼斯之行简直就是相当完美，回忆满满啊， 祝愿你们未来开心快乐！亲爱的张怡和源远，咱们的以色列之行是既刺 激又新鲜，尤其是冒着冷风泡死海的经历，也是够我记半辈子的，祝愿 你们在未来人生中事事如意！ 我还要谢谢我在格罗宁根遇到的这些珍贵的朋友们：李延军、武静、 牛富彪、曹华堂、武敏、刘洋、冯帅、余意、江琼、邓晶晶、曹祺、黄 妙珍、衡洋、黎志波、程亮慧、黄辰曦、唐滨琪、陈仕莉、唐振辰、贾 聪卓、赵小娟、李尚、刘帆、赵培亮、邢丽娟、张蓓蓓、曾盈盈、黄婷、 张丙全、沙昂、彭晨明、邵闫、王小翠、秦语真、曾旎等等。 最后我要感谢所有来参加我的答辩的各位好朋友们，谢谢你们在格 罗宁根的出现，谢谢你们让我的博士生涯不那么孤单！ 2019 年 3 月 于 格罗宁根 Groningen, March, 2019
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 5
Chapter 1 Introduction 13
Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework 43
Chapter 3 China’s Development Policy towards Africa 67
Chapter 4 Chinese Experiences and Lessons Learnt in 101
Agricultural Development since 1949 Chapter 5 The Hunan Case: Agricultural Development 121
And Operation of the Agricultural Technology Extension System Chapter 6 Sino-African Developmental Cooperation in 153
Agriculture and the Chinese Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre in Tanzania Chapter 7 Farmer Participation in the Agriculture Value 181
Chain and Agricultural Technology Extension APPENDIXES 217
BIBLIOGRAPHY 227
SUMMARY 239
CHAPTER 1
1. Background to Sino-African agricultural development cooperation
The development cooperation of China and Africa can be dated back to the 1950s, which was in the early stage of Chinese foreign assistance to other countries. In this early period of Chinese foreign aid to other countries, consideration on ideology is a key element. China embarked on a programme of giving foreign aid to other countries in the 1950s, starting with providing material assistance to Korea and Vietnam.
As the Chinese foreign relations improved, and following the Asian-African Conference held in Bandung in 1955, the range of China’s foreign aid expanded from socialist countries to other developing countries (Wang, 2008) and, specifically, assistance to African countries started in 1956. In 1964, the Chinese Government announced the Eight Principles of
Foreign Economic and Technical Assistance, at the core of which is the
precepts of equality, mutual benefits and non-conditions. These Eight Principles established the basic policy of Chinese foreign aid (China’s African Policy File, 2006).
Sino-African development cooperation gradually became a core content in this time period. In October 1971, with the support of many developing countries, especially African countries, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was admitted to the United Nations. This is a result of the consistent Chinese foreign aid to African countries. After 1971, China had established relations of economic and technical cooperation with an increasing number of developing countries, especially in Africa. China helped to build a large number of major infrastructures, including the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (China’s African Policy File, 2006). During this period, China overcame its own difficulties and provided maximum support to help other developing countries fight for national independence and to develop national economies. This assistance formed the foundation of long-term and friendly cooperation between China and the majority of developing countries (China’s Foreign Aid, 2011).Consequently, the friendship between China and Africa is of great importance to Chinese foreign relations, because African countries comprise the majority of developing countries to which China provides foreign aid.
In foreign relations, foreign policies are important reflections. The Chinese foreign policy towards Africa after 1949 can be divided into four phases, in accordance with Chinese domestic economic reform. The first phase is from 1949 to 1978. The main characteristic of this phase is the
influence of ideological and political factors on Chinese foreign policy. The second phase is from 1979 to 1988. This was a phase of the concentration of reforms in China, which, in turn, influenced Chinese foreign policy towards Africa. The third phase, a transitional phase following the Cold War, is from 1989 to 2004; and the fourth phase, from 2005 to date, is one of comprehensive cooperation (Li, Qi & Tang, 2010). Chapter 3 and Chapter 6 offer a more specific discussion of the Chinese foreign policy towards Africa and these four phases.
Agricultural development cooperation has always been a core factor in China’s African policy. The agricultural development cooperation between China and Africa has been developing for more than five decades. In particular, agricultural science and technology are important elements in the successful experience of Chinese agricultural development (Li, Qi & Tang, 2010). This can be seen in the agricultural sector in relation to China’s recent Africa policy.1
Since 2000, every document produced for the Ministerial Conference of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation presents the agricultural cooperation between China and Africa as a key sector of Sino-Africa cooperation programmes, specifically the Cooperation Agenda of China-Africa Economic and Social Development (2000); the 2nd Ministerial Conference of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation – Addis Ababa Action Plan (2004-2006); the 3rd Ministerial Conference in Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation – Beijing Action Plan (2007-2009); the 4th Ministerial Conference of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation – Sharm El Sheikh Action Plan (2010-2012); and the 5th Ministerial Conference of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation – Beijing Action Plan (2013-2015). Both China and Africa understand that the issue of food security is a challenge for African countries. The above-mentioned policies play a large role in agricultural development, which is crucial to maintaining food security on the continent.
Given the aforementioned policy files, this study considers that China’s Africa policy in relation to agriculture can be summarized into three major foci: Firstly, the sending of agricultural experts to Africa and the construction of agricultural demonstration centres. Secondly, encouragement
1
and support for Chinese enterprises to expand investment in African agriculture; to further participate in the construction of African agricultural infrastructure, agricultural production and agro-industry. And, thirdly, offering financial support under the framework of the Special Programme for Food Security (hereafter, SPFS) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (hereafter, FAO).
As the start of this book, this section had provided background information on Sino-African agricultural development, which included Chinese foreign policy towards Africa and agricultural development cooperation in China’s African policy. In the next section, debates and discussions on China-Africa development cooperation will demonstrate to the readers.
2. China-Africa development cooperation: a neorealist perspective
Due to the rapid development of the Chinese domestic economy and China’s enhanced international influence, the PRC continues to be a major donor in the area of international assistance. Additionally, China profiles itself at an international level in the area of development cooperation, especially vis-à-vis Africa (China’s Foreign Aid, 2011). While scholars that focused on Sino-African relationships used to apply neorealism quite often, some views were held to criticize the implementation in interpreting Sino-African development cooperation.
From a neorealist, or structural realist, perspective, the structure of international relations is the result of the distribution of power. Countries are the main actors in international relations, but, in the conceptual framework of structural realism, there are no differences between national functions. Rather, different countries’ foreign policies can be distinguished in terms of the position of the country in the international structure (Waltz, 1979).
The cooperative Sino-African relationship has played a crucial and supportive role in terms of China achieving international political influence since the 1950s (Zhang, 2013). According to neorealism, the international discussions and debates on Sino-African development cooperation are mainly based on the different perspectives of China’s assistance to Africa. But nowadays, neorealist have a dilemma in explaining multilateral cooperation, like some projects have already taken place under the Sino-African collaboration framework (He,2008).
Firstly, according to China’s Foreign Aid White Paper (2011), the principle of Chinese foreign assistance is one with no political conditions. This principle shows China’s current concept of foreign aid is guided by five main ideas: helping recipient countries to improve their capacity for self-development; adhering to a policy without any political conditions; adhering to a policy guided by equality and mutual benefit, i.e. common development; exercising China’s capabilities and best efforts; and striving to remain current and innovative. A diversity of views has been put forward under the aegis of this principle (China’s Foreign Aid, 2011).
According to Zhang and Huang (2012), Chinese foreign aid is mainly formed from prior development experiences and, indeed, its experience as a recipient of assistance. At the core of this principle is mutual respect for sovereignty and, as a result of China’s domestic development experiences, it believes that every country has its own path and right to development. Taylor (1998) claims that China’s no political conditions principle is, in fact, based on its international political support for African countries who are at odds with Western powers. Moreover, this Chinese principle is not economically based and therefore may mean China’s ability to promote African development is limited. Former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano claims the previous system of aid to Africa administered by Western countries devoted too much attention to political reform for Africa, which resulted in pressure on African states. Liberia’s former Finance Minister, Sayeh, posited that African countries could learn from Chinese poverty reduction achievements (Bautigam, 2009).
These views are focused on the no political conditions aspect of Chinese foreign aid to Africa. This study aims to show the historical background that has influenced China’s decision to adopt and operate this principle; specifically, the facts that China used to be a semi-colonial country, the majority of people are living below the poverty line and after independence in 1949, China experienced rapid development. Thus, based on its own experiences, China believes that mutual respect for sovereignty should be a fundamental principle of foreign assistance.
Secondly, this study will discuss the aims of Chinese aid to Africa. On the one hand, Bosshard (2007) demonstrates that China has a preference for loans to assist African countries to develop. He argues that this allows China to achieve its political goals by using these loans to recipient countries as
behind China’s construction of various infrastructures in African countries is to assist Chinese enterprises in obtaining natural resources. In addition, in a report by the World Bank (2008), Foster, ct.al. declare that most of the Chinese government programmes which started in sub-Saharan countries are aimed at facilitating the export of natural resources to China. Moreover, Eigen (2012) indicates that critics are saying that China’s strategy with regard to Africa is self-promotional; that is to say, the main goal is to gain access to Africa’s mineral resources. This study argues that these viewpoints are primarily based on a neorealist perspective, i.e. that national interests are a core element for international cooperation. While this study will use development cooperation related perspectives in additional to the previous neorealist analyses on Sino-African agricultural development cooperation.
On the other hand, He (2007) has indicated that China only emerged as an energy importer from 1993, while the cooperation between China and Africa dates back to 1949, and, moreover, the relationship with African countries is not limited to those rich in natural resources. In addition, Brautigam (2009) points out that China has made great efforts to improve African development, and Chinese people are trying to offer assistance that takes a different form than that implemented by Western developed countries. Numerous African countries benefit from these Chinese efforts. Li, Qi and Tang (2010) demonstrate that, by the end of 2005, China had implemented 145 agricultural projects in Africa, including demonstration farms, irrigation facilities, agriculture and technical services, agricultural machinery processing, livestock and poultry breeding. For instance, the Tanzanian Demonstration Centre for Agricultural Technologies is one of the most important agricultural projects that China has brought to Africa since 2000.
These discussions focus primarily on the motivation behind China’s assistance to Africa and the benefits for both sides. On one side is the view that China’s assistance to Africa is about obtaining natural resources and that there are few benefits for African countries. On the other side is the view that Chinese assistance provides numerous benefits to African states and, therefore, this form of development cooperation is of great significance to both China and Africa.
Aside from the aforementioned views about Sino-African development cooperation, there are also discussions on the rise of Sino-African agricultural cooperation. Fan, Nestorova, and Olofinbiyi (2010) have indicate that the Chinese experience of high economic growth and poverty
reduction in recent decades provide valuable lessons for African countries. They also point out that China has achieved rapid economic growth and that the population living below the poverty line has decreased significantly in recent decades. The elements that have resulted in these achievements are: evidence-based policymaking, policies aimed at the poor, and institutional and capacity building. Ravallion (2009: 306) claims that “it would be naïve to assume that all Africa needs to do are copy China’s specific policies to achieve China’s success.” This is because China and Africa have different local situations. He also indicates that Chinese success in poverty reduction is mainly due to a combination of two important ingredients – an efficient policy making process and strong state institutions. Therefore, the most important lesson for Africa to learn from China is to implement institutional construction based on local African contexts. Moreover, Buckley (2013) suggests that Chinese leaders have always had confidence in their approach to agricultural modernization. In addition, these leaders believe that food self-sufficiency in Africa is a way of maintaining food security on the continent, which, in turn, can contribute to solve the global food security issue. Zhang (2013) concludes that Sino-African agricultural development cooperation is a kind of development-led assistance cooperation model. In this model, China is a leading example, helping African countries to enter a higher level of agricultural development in order to, in particular, ensure food security.
According to official Chinese statistics, since 2009, general Foreign Direct Investment (hereafter, FDI) in Africa has decreased, but the FDI from China to Africa has increased rapidly. Between 2009 and 2012, the FDI from China to Africa rose from 1.44 billion dollars to 2.52 billion dollars. The trade of agricultural products is developing at a high speed as well. Between 2009 and 2012, China’s exports of agricultural products to Africa grew from 1.58 billion dollars to 2.49 billion dollars; China’s imports of agricultural products from Africa increased from 1.16 billion dollars to 2.86 billion dollars (White Paper, 2013: 5-9). Moreover, as of 2006, China has built 15 agricultural technology demonstration centres, based on a major domestic development project initiated by China and it has sent hundreds of agricultural experts to Africa to train local farmers. This policy mirrors one that has long been implemented domestically in China, which includes a
perspective of farmer participation2. Therefore, it can be argued that China is transplanting its domestic development experiences (with a focus on value chain development) in agricultural development for the benefits of food security and the reduction of poverty in Africa (Li, Qi& Tang, 2010). These statistics show that African countries clearly obtain a number of benefits from Chinese-African development cooperation.
On the other hand, this study argues that agricultural development in Africa cannot be introduced by simply copying what has been done before in China. Rather, these experiences should be adapted to local African contexts. This is because Africa is a continent made up of more than 50 countries, each with very distinct situations. On the other hand, China is a unified country. Hence, it would be prudent for African countries to learn from and embrace the results and tools of Chinese agricultural domestic experiences, while also considering local African social, political, economic and cultural contexts in order to improve its approaches to agricultural development.
3. Sino-African agricultural development and agricultural technology transfer & other major donor countries’ experiences and lessons of cooperation with Africa
Agricultural technology assistance is a typical example of long-term Chinese aid to Africa. Africa is a vast territory, and swathes of African land is not being developed and utilized. Moreover, with a number of indigenous agricultural products, such as coffee, cocoa, cotton and so on, which rely on Africa’s special geographic environment and climate, Africa has great potential for development (Li, Qi& Tang, 2010). However, a lack of funding and technology has meant that, to date, African agricultural development has remained at a relatively low level (Zhang, 2013).
This study argues that the first issue that Africa needs to resolve is that of agricultural development, as this influences the development of Africa as a whole, furthermore, food security is a core problem that needs to be addressed. Li, Qi and Tang (2010) believe that Chinese experiences in agricultural development provide suitable references for ensuring African food security and reducing poverty. Jiang, Zhen and Liu (2014) indicate that, following Africa’s independence, some countries’ government are occupied with issues of corruption, ineffective policy, as well as neglect of agricultural
food production, and these problems mean that many African countries rely heavily on food imports. Thus, increasing the level of and access to agricultural technology with a view to increasing food production is an important measure for solving the problem of food insecurity in Africa.
However, Zhou, Chang and Xiao (2011) point out that there are issues related to the transfer of technology in Sino-African agricultural programmes. The current cooperation between the Chinese and African governments is only based on the highlighting of technological innovation lacks of institutional innovation (especially without concerning value chains and farmer participation views), which leads to inefficiency of administrative implementations of local governments concerning to agricultural extension. This kind of cooperation will limit the effects of the cooperation between China and Africa and is not sustainable in the long-term. Therefore, this study claims that there is a need for research that focuses on technological assistance in Sino-African agricultural programmes and, more specifically, it believes that agricultural technology has an important role to play in both Chinese domestic agricultural development and China-Africa agricultural cooperation programmes. This will provide better solutions for solving issues that exist both in China domestically and in Sino-African agricultural development collaboration.
Before the rise of Sino-African development cooperation, European countries and the United States were the traditional donor countries to Africa. During the Cold War, the former Soviet Union also gave foreign assistance to African countries in order to compete with America (Zhang, 2012). An analysis of the experiences of these donor countries and understanding the lessons learned from their cooperation with Africa undoubtedly benefits not only future Sino-African cooperation, but also other donor countries’ development cooperation with Africa. Moreover, such information may help to develop a more inclusive and effective method (that include the concerning of agricultural value chain and farmer participation) of development cooperation with African countries.
In Chapter 3, the experiences and lessons of European programmes of foreign aid to Africa (on a national and an EU level), as well as the United States’ and Russia’s policies of foreign aid to Africa, will be examined in tandem with historical perspectives with the aim of understanding the achievements and dilemmas of these donor countries in this regard. This will
development cooperation with African states. In addition, by using these analyses, this study sorting the experiences of the traditional donor countries and Africa, so as to search for ways of making foreign assistance to Africa more effective and inclusive.
4. Chinese agricultural development experiences, value chains, and farmer participation
Within the sphere of Chinese agricultural development experiences, this study will focus mainly on value chain and farmer participation. Therefore, this section will provide a brief description of and summarize discussions on Chinese agricultural development experiences with regard to value chain and farmer participation perspectives.
4.1 Chinese agricultural development after 1950
After 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established in Beijing. Since then, Chinese agricultural development has entered a new stage (Zhang, 2014). This study believes that, after 1949, the agricultural development of China can be divided into two phases. During the first phase, from 1949 to 1978, Chinese agricultural development was confronted with and, indeed, overcame numerous obstacles (Zhang, 2014). During the second phase, from 1978 to date, reforms have been implemented by the Chinese government that focuses on improving value chains and increasing farmer participation. Consequently, Chinese agricultural development has achieved a number of successful outcomes despite Chinese agricultural development being largely based on small holder operations (Li, Qi& Tang, 2010).
1949 to 1978: During this phase, Chinese people, living in a newly
independent country, felt the importance of development for their nation. China had become a major agricultural country and therefore, agricultural development was of great importance. However, this phase was also marked by numerous obstacles to agricultural development in China (Gong, 2009). For example, from 1952 to 1958, the gross agriculture production increased; however, due to improper reforms by the central government3, gross agricultural production later decreased in 1961 and 1962. Subsequently, after 1962, the gross agricultural production slowly increased until 1978 (Zhang, 2014).
1978 to now: Since 1978, the reforms implemented by the Chinese
central government have prioritized putting the first national goal of economic development. In addition, the Chinese government has realized the important position of technology and science in agricultural development. Thus, this phase is characterized by rapid agricultural development. Moreover, the Chinese government has put agricultural development at the heart of its programme for the comprehensive development of the country, based on the goals of improved food production and poverty reduction. It should be noted that China has committed to the reduction of poverty on both a national and an international level (Gong, 2009). Two important lessons that can be learnt from Chinese agricultural development are the need to pay significant attention to the value chain development and farmer participation. For instance, the Chinese government believes that agricultural technology is of great significance in the food production value chain. As a result, China launched a complete agricultural technology promotion system (Li, Tang& Xu, 2013). Government agencies were established to promote agricultural technology and, along with civic organizations, the private sector and agricultural research institutions, adopted a multifunctional, multi-level promotion system for agricultural technology. This system was supported by state funds and facilities for the transmission of modern agricultural technology were constructed. Consequently, the ability to promote agricultural technology was significantly enhanced (Zhang, 2013).
However, alongside the achievements of Chinese agricultural development that were presented to the world, came criticism with respect to over-cultivation and climate and environmental issues, including problems that arose as a result of certain uses of land, water and other resources (Li, Qi & Tang, 2010). Moreover, some critics point to the improper implementation of some agricultural-related policy, including a lack of farmer participation and the apparent overlooking of the fact that different areas have their own situations. These critics even went so far as to suggest that these improper efforts had made no contribution to the development of agriculture (Li, Guo & Wu, 2011). Therefore, this study argues that the challenges and dilemmas of Chinese agricultural development should be addressed via the Chinese agricultural development value chain and farmer participation. Firstly, environmental elements are crucial to agricultural production value chains and ignoring this aspect can have severe consequences. Secondly, more effective participation from local farmers will, in turn, improve the
effectiveness of the policy making process and policy implementation in specific local situations. Chapters 2, 4 and 5 will provide more detailed analysis based on the above-mentioned points.
4.2 Value chain and farmer participation in Chinese agricultural development
The concept of value chain was first posited by Porter in 1985. He defined a value chain as all those activities undertaken competitively in specific industries. As this idea developed, scholars discovered that value chains are inter-changeable in any business and are used to create more value and meet customers’ needs (Schroeder, 1994). Consequently, analysing value chains has become an effective approach in economic development, (Walters& Lancaster, 2000). In the context of this study, the agricultural value chain can be defined as a chain that consists of agricultural production, processing, packaging, transportation, marketing and the ultimate goal is meeting the consumers’ demands in order to maximize the value.
The concept of the value chain is closely related to Chinese agricultural development (Tu, 2010). On one side, the rapid development of Chinese agriculture is related to the achievements of value chain development in Chinese food production and poverty reduction, in particular, the focus on developing agricultural technology and science (Jiang, 2014). Food production improved enormously following the implementation of new technology and science, which also helps to reduce poverty (Zhao, 2013). We can therefore say that technology and science are core elements in the Chinese agricultural value chain.
On the other side, there are a number of negative aspects to the current Chinese agricultural value chain, including the unreasonable supply chain and the distribution of labour (Zhang, 2013). Another issue is the weak position of small holder farmers in China’s agricultural production value chain. Consequently, small holder farmers have been disadvantaged in terms of competition and always have more production expenses than, say, factory producers (Jiang, 2014). Thus, there are both good experiences and lessons to be learnt in the process of improving the Chinese agricultural value chain. In this study, there will be a specific focus on the role of agricultural technology in the agriculture value chain development process and, specifically, Chapter 2 will provide more specific analyses of the close relationship between the agricultural value chain and technology.
The importance of farmer participation has been acknowledged by many agricultural development researchers. Ye and Lu (2002) claim that the notion of participation is often misunderstood as being the same as presence. Instead, they argue, participation should be treated as a good measure of development or the basis of empowerment, good governance, democracy, innovation and capacity building. Therefore, farmer participation should be given an important role in rural development.
In addition, farmer participation can improve research methodologies for rural development. Zuo, Qi and Zhong (2003) demonstrate the need for improvements in research methods in rural development. Traditional research methods, carried out in laboratories or at research stations should be transferred to on-farm research, e.g. farming system research, adaptive research, participation action research, etc. Agricultural extension methods need to be creative, as demonstrated by, for example, participation extension, farmer field schools and so on.
Recently, however, some scholars have called for the use of farmer participation in the area of rural development to be reassessed. Guo (2010) illustrates how rural participation appraisal is a good method for rural development, but in some research, researchers have applied this method theoretically and do not connect it to the actual situation of the communities that are being invested in. The use of ‘participation’ working methods and philosophy without reference to a community’s actual situation produces incomplete research. This phenomenon also ignores the more intricate, traditional culture network structure behind the word ‘participation’.
Measuring the extent of farmer participation in Chinese agricultural development is meaningful for analysing Chinese domestic agricultural development issues and it can also have implications for Sino-African agricultural development cooperation programs (Gao, 2004). In sum, farmer participation perspectives will be used dialectically in this study and will play a supporting role in analysing issues in the Chinese agricultural extension system. This study use farmer-centred perspectives to investigate the actual situation. More detailed discussions of farmer participation and agricultural development will be explored in the theoretical framework chapter.
5. Africa agricultural development experiences and issues after 1950
Africa is abundant in energy resources and raw materials. There are more than 800 million hectares of arable land available on the continent, 680 million hectares of forest area, 890 million hectares of grassland pastures and more than 30,000 kilometers of coastline. Africa has rich offshore fishery resources and a large inland water fishery. Cotton, banana, oil palm, cocoa, coffee and date palms are all indigenous to Africa and the continent’s major food crops include corn, wheat, sorghum and cassava. (Yao, 2002). Together, the production of coffee and peanuts in Africa accounts for about 25% of the entire global output. Africa’s cocoa, cloves, palm oil and palm kernel harvests contribute between 50 to 80% of the world’s production for each of these crops. However, the favourable natural conditions and the rich agricultural resources have not been effectively utilized (Tang, Wu, Li, 2011: 51-56).
Following the opening of the ‘New Route’ in the 15th
century, Africa has suffered the pain of colonial domination. Moreover, the path to African agricultural development was fundamentally destroyed by colonization and the brutal behaviour of Western countries (Tang, Wu & Li, 2011). Yao (2002) demonstrates how the colonial domination of Western countries negatively influenced the African agricultural planting structure, which became reliant on the mass production of a single crop. Moreover, this so-called plantation economy, designed to meet the needs of Western markets, made African domestic agricultural production unstable and resulted in a shortage of food crops.
Wang (2008) claims that the rapid growth of the African population, which goes hand in hand with constant urbanization, demands ever more food and agricultural production. Furthermore, Lui, Rosengren and Roquefeuil (2013) describe a number of factors that restrict African agricultural development, such as frequent natural disasters, lack of agricultural infrastructure, low educational level of the population and the failure to breed fine agricultural varieties. In addition, the obstacles to accessing markets and protectionist trade policies of Western countries are important reasons why African agricultural development has proceeded so slowly (Yao, 2002).
In the era of economic globalization, Africa is home to between 70 to 80% of the world’s poor, who are dependent on the agricultural sector for their
livelihoods (Wang, 2008: 35-36). The sustainable development of Africa’s societies and economies must form the basis of the development of their agricultural sectors. The development of Africa is of utmost importance not only for the continent itself, but also for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and even for the harmonious development of the world (Li, Qi& Tang, 2010).
Two thirds of the income of African agricultural exports comes primarily from six types of economic crops: cocoa, coffee, cotton, sugar, tobacco and tea (Plessis, 2001). At the turn of the century, however, there was a trend for prices of cocoa, coffee and other economic crops in the international market to decrease. In the first quarter of 2000, the price of cocoa fell to its lowest point for 30 years, to just one third of the price in early 1999. Likewise, the price of coffee fell consistently throughout the whole of 2001 (Li, Tang & Xu, 2013).
On 16 April 2001, the average future price of coffee in the New York Market was 56.6 cents per pound, hitting its lowest point since 1993. This seriously affected the export income of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and other countries. In addition, the share of the world market occupied by the exports of the economic crops of African countries also decreased significantly. Cocoa beans decreased from 80% in 1970 to 65% in 1989; at the same time, peanuts decreased from 71% to 6.4 % and rubber decreased from 7.5% to 5.3%. And today, Malaysia and Indonesia have usurped Tanzania and Kenya as the world’s main source of sisal. Latin American countries have also narrowed the gap with Africa in the production and export of coffee and cocoa (Li, Qi & Tang, 2011: 13-16).
The continued deterioration of African agriculture is the combined result by many factors. Tang, Wu and Li (2011) demonstrate the main problems of agricultural development in Africa are: low level growth in the productivity of agriculture; the lack of supporting infrastructure and relatively low investment. China already has a system of agricultural technology and management, which is characterized by intensive cultivation, a strong capacity for disaster reduction and sufficient use of natural resources (Li, Guo & Wu, 2011). Despite huge industrialization in the development process of Chinese agriculture, agricultural production is still consistently supported by government investment and a parallel marketization process. Chinese farmers have optimistically absorbed and
historical experience and knowledge of farming. These absorptions are especially reflected in the acceptance of fertilizers, pesticides and improved varieties and the adoption of technologies such as mulch film, mechanical sowing, harvesting and mechanical irrigation (Li, Qi & Tang, 2010).
6. Research design
In this section, the research design of this study is outlined. This consists of the research goal, research questions, research hypotheses, research framework, research methodology and a description of the fieldwork sites.
6.1 Research goal
As in the discussions on Sino-African relationship above, the relationship of China and Africa has a relatively inconclusive status. Scholars’ views are divided on the nature of Sino-African development cooperation. With these different points of view in mind, this study employs two case studies based on relatively objective fieldwork in order to analyse the Sino-African relationship.
The ultimate aim of this research is to map the inclusion of Chinese domestic agricultural technology extension development experiences in Chinese-African development cooperation to see the reflection on Chinese foreign policy to Africa . It also aims to analyse the nature of the Sino-African relationship with neorealism in order to develop a more inclusive way of combining value chains and farmer participation together that, in turn, will make supplements for neorealism for globalisation era and increase the effectiveness of future agricultural development programmes.
In addition, the intention is to develop a better understanding of Chinese approaches to addressing sustainable agricultural development outside the domestic context. It also aims to develop a more inclusive institutional framework that has the potential to inform relevant policy. Finally, this study contributes to a better understanding of Chinese experiences and lessons with implications for Africa’s development and the engagements of China, Africa and other donor countries, with a view to more effective development cooperation in Africa in an era of globalization.
This study consists of three parts. Firstly, it provides an analysis of domestic Chinese agricultural development, with a particular focus on the extension of technology in development experiences and lessons learnt.
Secondly, there is an analysis of Chinese programmes (with a specific focus on the agricultural demonstration technology extension system in China’s Hunan province) in Africa (with a special focus on projects in Tanzania, a pioneer in Sino-African agricultural cooperation) in terms of inclusion of the lessons from Chinese experiences with the base of Chinese foreign policy goals. Finally, it will detail the rationale and motivations behind Chinese development programs in Africa by a combination with neorealism, value chain and farmer participation.
6.2 Research questions, hypothesis and research framework
The main research question in this study is: What are the experiences and lessons that China has implemented domestically and in Africa on agriculture and agricultural technology extension, to what extent Sino– African agricultural development cooperation is reflected in the Chinese foreign policy goals from the perspective that consist with value chain and farmer participation, which differs from the traditional neorealist perspective?
The sub-questions are: 1) What is the role of Chinese foreign policy towards Africa in the China-Africa relationship? 2) What are Chinese agricultural development experiences and lessons learnt? 3) What Chinese agricultural experiences applied in Africa? 4) What is the nature of Sino-African agricultural development cooperation? 5) How Sino-African agricultural development cooperation reflected in Chinese foreign policy goals, offers a new perspective on this relationship?
In this research, based on a literature review and second-hand data analysis, there are four hypotheses, which are constructed as follows:
1) Neorealism cannot fully explain China and Africa relations, and in the area of agricultural development cooperation, which is based on the principle of mutual reciprocity and mutual benefit.
According to China’s African policy and literature, a key principle of the China-Africa relationship is mutual reciprocity and mutual benefit. But in a neorealist perspective, a powerful or large country will always have a leading position in the international system of foreign relations. Therefore, this study wants to test whether neorealism’s views can fully explain Sino-African agricultural development cooperation, and whether this
cooperation is based on the principle of mutual reciprocity and mutual benefit.
2) The main reason for China transferring agricultural technology to Africa is because it believes it is urgently needed for African agricultural development and a leading element in the agricultural value chain.
Technology transfer is a regular and important element of China-Africa agricultural collaboration programmes. In this hypothesis, agricultural technology is considered as an urgent need for African agricultural development need. Furthermore, agricultural technology plays a leading role in the agricultural value chain.
3) The Chinese-built agricultural technology demonstration centre is based on successful experiences in Chinese domestic agricultural technology extension (concerning value chain and farmer participation views) and is partially meeting local farmers’ requirements and participation in Africa.
Since 2006, China has built 15 agricultural technology demonstration centres in sub-Saharan Africa (White Paper, 2013). The aim of these centres is to introduce new agricultural technology to the countries in question, in order to enhance agricultural production and local people’s living standards (Li, Qi & Tang, 2010). According to the literature, agricultural technology extension has played an important role in the Chinese agricultural development process and in China’s domestic experiences.
4) The Chinese domestic development experiences in agriculture can only be partially implemented in Sino-African agricultural collaborative programmes, because national conditions play an important role.
China’s rapidly growing development experiences have attracted the world’s attention. Agriculture is the fundamental industry of Chinese development. However, in addition to great achievements, there are still a number of issues that need to be addressed in relation to Chinese agriculture and its value chains. In Sino-African agricultural cooperation programmes, the concentration on infrastructure construction and technology extension mirrors what China has implemented domestically. However, Africa is a continent with multiple sovereign states and China is one sovereign state. Also, the national conditions in China and those of African countries are very different. Therefore, it is not possible or desirable to apply all of China’s experiences to Sino-African development collaborations. Thus, hypothesis 4 is formed on the basis of different national conditions, and
Chinese domestic development experiences in agriculture can be only partially implemented in Sino-African agricultural collaborative programmes.
Figure1-1: Research framework of the study
Figure 1-1 illustrates the framework of this study and explains that the two major parts to this research are Chinese agricultural development and Sino-African agricultural development. In the Chinese part, the analysis of domestic agricultural development will lead us to the experiences and lessons learnt in China’s agricultural development process. A core element of the Chinese agricultural value chain is technology and so agricultural extension has a key position in agricultural development.
and farmer-led agricultural extension means. The government-led agricultural extension means can be divided into agricultural extension stations and agricultural demonstration centres. The farmer-led agricultural extension means are being constructed with farmer cooperatives and agricultural demonstration centres. Since technology and science are effectively influencing the production part of the agricultural value chain, we can therefore say that the Chinese agricultural extension is a crucial factor that influences Chinese agricultural development. Given the scope of this study, it is hard to assess the situation regarding agricultural extension for all of China. For this reason, Hunan, a major agricultural province with an average development level within whole China, has been selected as representative.
On the other side, the development process of African agriculture also has its experiences and lessons learnt from cooperation with China. In this regard, agricultural demonstration centres are important projects within Sino-African agricultural development cooperation and involve agricultural technology extension. Here, too, it is not possible to investigate the situation for the whole African continent so Tanzania, as a pioneer in Sino-African and is one of the earliest countries that have development cooperation, has been selected as a case study and representative of the continent as a whole.
Africa’s agricultural extension system is being constructed with donor-led agricultural extension means, government-led agricultural extension means and social-led agricultural extension means. The Chinese demonstration centres and agricultural experimental stations are typical of such donor-led actions and an important project within the China-Africa agricultural cooperation. Therefore, this study will provide an analysis of Chinese foreign policy towards Africa in order to understand the China-Africa agricultural cooperation properly. Indeed, given the importance of technology in agricultural value chains, we can say that the African agricultural extension system is of crucial importance to African agricultural development.
At the same level, the motivation for China-Africa agricultural development cooperation is a key concern of this study. An analysis of this factor will provide clarity regarding China’s African policy and measure the extent of the policy’s implementation.
neorealism on China’s foreign policy towards Africa and its motivations. Secondly, given neorealist’s lack of attention to economic factors in forming international politics and power distributions, this study will analyse the involvement of value chain perspectives in the two selected case studies. Thirdly, small holder farming is a major form of production in both Chinese and African agriculture, and this study shed light on the importance of farmer participation in small scale farming in both Chinese and African agricultural extension processes, which are key to agricultural development.
6.3 Research methodology
Qualitative and quantitative approaches will be used in this study, especially in the field investigation in Hunan province, China. A quantitative method is also implemented via questionnaires. The main methods utilized in this study are detailed in Table 1.
This study employs three main techniques to analyse the research questions: literature review, and field investigations.
Table 1-1: Research methodology
1) Literature review: By reviewing the literature of previous scholars, it
Main contents
Main investigation and research methods
Data resource
Agricultural development, farmer participation and value chain elements (case: agricultural demonstration centres)
Literature review Books, reports, journals
Field investigation – qualitative and quantitative approaches (in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations, questionnaires)
In Africa (Tanzania) and China (Hunan)
and farmer participation in order to analyse Chinese and African sustainable agricultural development in the context of China-Africa development cooperation.
2) Field investigations (Table 1-2): This research is based on field investigations in both China and Africa (Hunan province in China, Tanzania). During this fieldwork, a mixed method was used to collect first-hand data; both qualitative and quantitative methods (SPSS) have been used to collect data implemented: in-depth interview, focus group discussions, and questionnaires. In addition, a qualitative Participation Rural Appraisal was implemented in the field investigations to make a SWOT4 Analysis. Tanzania was selected as the site for field investigations in Africa; this is because of its role as a pioneer in Sino-African agricultural cooperation and because Tanzania already has a number of agricultural demonstration centres constructed as a result of Sino-Africa agricultural cooperation programmes in the Morogoro region.
Location Methods Data collected Usage
China, Hunan province: Gaoguang village, Dongyuan village, Jinxing village, Shilong village, Changsha county national modern agricultural demonstration centre, Lianyuan county national modern agricultural demonstration centre, etc. Questionnaires, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations. 107 valid questionnaires from four villages; 50 interviews conducted with villagers, village leaders, agricultural department officers, employees and chiefs from several local agricultural companies; H-shape evaluation map, etc.
To analyse the current status (achievements and issues) of agricultural
development in Hunan province; to analyse the experiences and lessons learnt in Hunan’s agricultural extension process.
Tanzania, Morogoro region, Mgeta village
In-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations. 12 interviews conducted with villagers and village leaders, problem tree, ranking map, etc.
To analyse the current status (achievements and issues) of agricultural
development in Mgeta.
Table 1-2: Field investigation data collection
