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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CHAPTER 6
Sino-African Developmental Cooperation in
Agriculture and the Chinese Agricultural Technology
1. Introduction
Agriculture is a major area of African development. It is also an important target for international development assistance and an arena for cooperation with African countries, especially Sino-African cooperation (Li, Qi, & Tang, 2010). Technology transfer is a major component of Sino-African agricultural development and collaboration programmes (Zhang, 2013).
This chapter will begin by describing the development of African agriculture, then move on to Sino-African agricultural developmental cooperation. The main focus of the chapter is an illustration and analysis of agricultural cooperation between China and Africa. As technology transfer is a key component of Sino-African agricultural collaborative programmes, this chapter describes a Tanzanian field study designed to identify the relevant factors and illustrate what African countries can learn from the Chinese experience.
2. African agricultural development experiences 2.1 African agricultural development path
Africa has abundant energy resources and is regarded as the world’s natural resources store. There are more than 800 million hectares of arable land available, 680 million hectares of forest and 890 million hectares of grassland pastures as well as more than 30,000 kilometres of coastline. Africa has abundant offshore fishery resources and a large inland waters fishing industry. Africa is the origin of cotton, banana, oil palm, cocoa, coffee and date palms. The main African food crops are corn, wheat, sorghum, cassava, etc. (Yao, 2002).
Africa accounts for about 25% of global production of coffee and peanuts, and about 50-80% of world production of cocoa, cloves, palm oil and palm kernel. However, Africa’s favourable natural conditions and rich agricultural resources have not been fully utilized. African agricultural development has a long way to go (Tang, Wu, & Li, 2011).
Since the new route opened in the 15th Century opened, Africa has suffered the pain of colonization. African agricultural development has been badly compromised by colonial domination and Western brutalization. The colonial domination of Western countries has had a negative impact on the African agricultural planting structure. For instance, in many African
countries, planting is dominated by a single species (monoculture), and the demands of the Western market have made domestic agricultural production unstable and led to a shortage of food crops (Yao, 2002).
Wang (2008) argues that the rapid growth of the African population and continuing urbanization required plenty of food and agricultural production. Furthermore, Lui, Rosengren and Roquefeuil (2013) point out that there are other factors that restrict African agricultural development, such as frequent natural disasters, outdated agricultural infrastructure, the population’s low educational level and the lack of agricultural fine breeds. In addition, barriers to market access and Western countries trade protection policies are also important reasons why African agricultural development has been limited.
In today’s era of economic globalization, the majority of Africa’s population still depend on the agricultural sector for their livelihood (Wang, 2008). The sustainable development of African countries’ societies and economies must be based on the development of their agricultural sectors. The development of Africa is of the utmost significance to Africans and is also crucial to the achievement of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and even to global harmony (Li, Qi, & Tang, 2010).
Two thirds of African agricultural export income is generated by six crops: cocoa, coffee, cotton, sugar, tobacco and tea. Income from cocoa and coffee exports alone has accounted for more than half of all agricultural export income since the mid-1990s (Plessis, 2001); but, at the turn of the century, the trend in global prices for cocoa, coffee and other cash crops was mostly downwards. In the first quarter of 2000, the price of cocoa fell to its lowest point in 30 years, to just one third of the price in early 1999. The price of coffee fell throughout 2001 (Li, Tang, Xu et al. 2013).
On 16 April 2001, the average futures price of coffee on the New York stock market was 56.6 cents per pound, its lowest since 1993. This seriously affected the export income of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and other countries. In addition, African countries’ share of the world market in economic crops of African also decreased significantly. Africa’s share of the global market in cocoa beans decreased from 80% in 1970 to 65% in 1998, peanut market share decreased from 71% to 64% and rubber market share decreased from 7.5% to 5.3% (Li, Qi, Tang, 2010:13-19). Malaysia and Indonesia have already replaced Tanzania and Kenya as the world’s largest producers of sisal. Latin American countries have also narrowed the gap with Africa in
terms of production and export of coffee and cocoa. The continual deterioration of African agriculture is the combined result of many factors (Buckley, 2013).
On the policy level, most African governments have made changes to agricultural policy since gaining independence (Delgado & Mellor, 1984). Delgado (1998) recognized three periods in African agricultural development: 1910 to 1970, commercialization and promotion of cash crops; from 1970 to 1979, promotion of national self-sufficiency in food through regional industrial integration; since 1990, the main paradigm has been sustainable development.
Until the 1990s, the results of these policy adjustments were not very satisfactory. Between 1980 and 1990, Africa’s per capita GNP declined by 0.8% p.a. (Cleaver & Schrelber, 1990:3). Until the 1990s, Africa’s economy expanded rapidly, but because food security remains a severe problem Africa has remained the world’s poorest continent. This is why, since the beginning of the 21st century, food security has been the focus of most African countries’ agricultural policies (Li, Qi, & Tang, 2010).
2.2 Main issues in African agricultural development since the 1950s
African countries won their independence over the period from the 1950s to 1970s. Agriculture is the main industry in almost all African countries, but the speed of development of African agriculture is the lowest in the world (Wang, 1990). Niemeijer (1996) has demonstrates that African agriculture is more likely to remain static than Western agriculture.
Since the 1980s, however, and particularly since 2000, African agriculture has been undergoing recovery and growth. Nevertheless, compared with China and other developing regions, the productivity of African land is relatively low (Li et al., 2010). This section analyses the main negative influences on the development pace of African agriculture from the 1950s until the present day.
1) Serious food security issues in Africa
The FAO has proposed three criteria for food security: first, a country should be at least 95% self-sufficient in grain; secondly, annual per capita grain production should be more than 400 kilograms; and third, grain reserves should be 18% of annual grain consumption, with 14% being the threshold
for alarm. In 2007, China was more than 95% self-sufficient in grain, annual per capital grain production was 379.6 kg and grain reserves were 40-45% of annual consumption, thus China met the FAO’s food security standard.62
In Africa, however, annual per capita grain production was 148.4 kg and every year Africa needs 2,267 million tons of food in the form of imports or food aid from other countries. Most African countries are less than 50% self-sufficient in grain (Jiang, Zhen, & Liu, 2014:51-53). Zhang (2013) points out that this situation is leading to serious food insecurity on the African continent.
The reasons for Africa’s serious food security issues have been the subject of numerous studies. Jiang, et al. (2014) point out that the slow growth in food production does not match the surge in population, and so the food security issue is becoming increasingly serious. Zhang (2015) argues that although the African continent is rich in resources, droughts, floods, typhoons and other natural disasters severely damage agricultural production.
Wang (1990) also shows that most African governments have adopted a limited, one-sided agricultural investment strategy favouring cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, cotton, etc., which has led to declining food production. Given Africa’s severe food insecurity, addressing food shortages must be the first step; subsequent efforts should be made to improve food safety.
2) The issue of ecological changes in African land
The main ecological changes affecting African land are the decline of soil fertility and accelerated soil erosion and degradation. As the FAO wrote in its report on the status of the world's soil resources (2015), Soil erosion has direct, negative effects for global agriculture. These ecological environmental changes have a negative influence on African agriculture.
According to Jiang et al. (2014), soil erosion or the shallowness of the soil is the main limitation on agriculture in North Africa, West Africa, East Africa and South Africa; the second limitation is aluminum toxicity, which affects Central Africa and East Africa; the third limitation is low cation exchange capacity, which affects Central Africa, West Africa and South
Africa. According to FAO,63 soil shallowness and soil erosion are the two main ecological changes in Africa.
Soil erosion and accelerated soil degradation have a negative influence on Africa’s agricultural production capacity. Africa is losing 18 billion tons of topsoil every year, and in some places, where soil erosion is particular severe, losses reach more than 200 tons per square kilometer per year (Jiang et al., 2014:13). Hence, the prevention and treatment of declining soil fertility, soil erosion and accelerated soil degradation is of great importance to African agricultural development.
3) The energy shortage in African rural areas
More than half of Africa’s population lives in rural areas and the main categories of energy expenditure are domestic consumption, agricultural consumption and small business consumption (Gustavsson & Ellegård, 2004). Domestic energy consumption encompasses cooking, lighting and heating of homes; agricultural energy consumption encompasses the energy costs of transportation, water pumping, plowing, planting, harvesting, etc.; small business’ energy consumption is predominantly focused in the area of business services enterprises and manufacturing enterprises (Jiang et al., 2014).
Africa, and especially in the savannah region that covers less than half of the continent’s total area, has the most serious energy shortage in the world (FAO, 2009). The energy shortage has negative results: natural vegetation has been severely damaged, resulting in a sharp drop in forest resources, the ecological environment is deteriorating and human health has suffered.
Firstly, Africa’s natural vegetation has been severely damaged, resulting in a sharp drop in forest resources. Due to the shortage of energy resources, timber is an important energy source for many African countries, which is particularly evident in the average African’s daily energy consumption. Burning wood for energy inevitably consumes limited forest resources and is neither sustainable, nor a permanent solution to Africa’s energy shortage.
Secondly, the ecological environment is deteriorating. Some irrational agricultural economic practices still prevail in Africa, including overgrazing;
irrational cultivation and deforestation are exacerbating the deterioration of the environment. In the past half century, about 900 million square kilometres of the world’s dry areas have turned into desert and one third of the affected area is in Africa (Jiang et al., 2014).
Thirdly, human health has suffered. In sub-Saharan Africa, women and children spend several hours collecting fuel every day, as well as spending a lot of time cooking, which means that they suffer great harm from biofuel emissions. Dust pollution means that there is a high incidence of respiratory diseases amongst women and children in Africa (Yao, 2002).
3. Sino-African developmental cooperation in agriculture
3.1 History of Sino-African developmental cooperation in agriculture
China and Africa’s developmental cooperation dates from the 1950s. In 1950, China began to provide material assistance to Korea and Vietnam; this was China’s first foray into foreign aid. As foreign relations improved, China’s provision of foreign aid expanded to include other developing countries as well as socialist countries, after the Asian-African Conference held in Bandung in 1955 (Wang, 2008). China began to provide assistance to African countries in 1956. In 1964, the Chinese government announced eight principles of foreign economic and technical assistance with equality, mutual benefit and non-conditionality at the core; these formed the basis of China's foreign aid policy (Li, Qi, & Tang, 2010).
In October 1971, with the support of many developing countries, the United Nations voted to admit the People’s Republic of China. China has established economic and technical cooperation with a large number of developing countries. It has helped to build a many major infrastructure projects, including the Tanzania-Zambia railway. During this early period, following the founding of the PRC, China overcame its own difficulties and provided maximum support to other developing countries fighting for independence and seeking to develop their economy. The support provided the foundation for long-term, friendly cooperation between the new China and the majority of developing countries (China’s Foreign Aid, 2011).
China’s foreign assistance to Africa can be described in terms of four main principles: peaceful development throughout the world; equality between nations; mutually beneficial cooperation; and attainment of common developmental goals (Zhang, 2013).
Li et al. (2010) divided post-1959 Sino-African agricultural developmental cooperation into three phases. The first phase is from 1959 to the end of the 1970s; during this phase, cooperation is dominated by one-way agricultural aid from China to Africa. The second phase is from the 1970s to the end of the 20th century; China made some adjustments to its assistance strategy in this phase, changing from a government-led model to one that encouraged participation of private enterprises. During this phase, the Chinese government started to participate in international multilateral aid plans for Africa.
The third phase, from 2000 until the present, is described as comprehensive cooperation. Sino-African agricultural developmental cooperation in this phase displays several new characteristics and becomes much more diverse. Zhang (2012) pointed out that the main areas of Sino-African agricultural cooperation were agricultural infrastructure construction, food production, animal husbandry, agricultural practical technology exchange and transfer, agricultural products processing, agricultural storage and transportation, etc.
The China-Africa Business Cooperation White Paper (2013) indicated that China will: (1) promote comprehensive Sino-African cooperation in the field of agriculture; (2) establish new cooperation mechanisms and improve existing mechanisms; and (3) strengthen the agricultural technology, resources, agricultural information, processing and trade in agricultural products, infrastructure construction, human resources training, etc. of both partners. Buckley (2013) argued that Chinese leaders always have faith in their approach to agricultural modernization, and that they believe that helping Africa to become self-sufficient in food would help its food security and thus help to solve the global food security problem. Lei Sun (2011:7) produced a diagram showing the key stakeholders in China’s investment in the African agricultural sector (Figure 6-1).
In terms of production, China’s assistance to Africa is focused on agriculture and industry, etc. (Zhang, 2012). China offers agricultural assistance to Africa in many ways. Li et al. (2010) cited the building of farms and test stations, the setting up of agricultural technology demonstration centres and provision of agricultural technology experts, training and food and other forms of material aid as the main ways.
There are several aid agencies facilitating China’s foreign assistance and economy cooperation programs. Brautigam (2009) describes them in Chapter3, Figure 3-1, below. China gives assistance to African countries through this system. Since 2000, Sino-African agricultural developmental cooperation has improved thanks to the China-Africa Cooperation Forum. As described in Chapter 3, on the political level, analysis of Sino-African agricultural cooperation has concluded as Sino-African development cooperation now operates continuously. Increasingly, economic elements are playing important roles within the bilateral relationship, as can be observed by the number of agencies acting in respect to China’s foreign assistance and economic cooperation (Figure 3-1).
Figure 6-1: Key stakeholders in China’s investments in the African agricultural sector (Lei Sun, 2011:7)
Sino-African agricultural developmental cooperation is based on a development-led model of assistance and cooperation (Zhang, 2013). According to this model, China acts as an example to African countries, helping them develop their agricultural sector and achieve greater food security.
When examining the agricultural cooperation between China and Africa, it is important to understand that the idea and manner of cooperation are not rigid and unchanging, but rather a historical choice that has evolved in line
with the development of China’s domestic policies, international developments and the needs of African countries (Qi & Luo, 2010). The cooperation process is dynamic, complicated and based on ‘learning by doing’ exploration.
3.2 Main elements of Sino-African agricultural cooperation In addition to China’s FDI in African agriculture,64
the other major projects initiated under the auspices of Sino-African agricultural cooperation are farms, experimental agricultural technology stations, agricultural technology demonstration centres and water conservancy projects built by China in Africa. Since 2006, China has built 15 agricultural technology demonstration centres in Africa and it has plans for another seven on the continent (White Paper, 2013). China has also sent numerous agricultural technology teams and hundreds of agricultural technology experts to Africa to deliver practical agricultural technologies to local residents.
Through the Forum on China-Africa Agricultural Cooperation, China and Africa have pledged to engage in agricultural cooperation and exchanges at multiple levels, through multiple channels and in diverse ways. China will continue to support and help Africa to improve agricultural production and increase food security. Cooperation between the two sides will be expanded in the areas of technical exchange and human resource training in agriculture, agricultural development planning and system building, agricultural processing and promotion of agricultural machinery in order to create a favourable environment for African countries to achieve long-term food security through national agricultural production and processing.
Agricultural technological assistance is a typical example of China’s long-term technological assistance to Africa. Africa is a vast territory, much of which is not being developed and utilized. Africa has great potential for development. There are several traditional products, such as coffee, cocoa, cotton, etc., that benefit from Africa’s geography and climate.
Economic and technological limitations have always acted as a brake on African agricultural development (Zhang, 2013). The first issue that needs to be resolved is agricultural development, which, in turn, influences the comprehensive development of Africa. Food security is also a core problem
64
From 2009 to 2012, the Chinese FDI in African agriculture has reached 82.47 million USD (White Paper, 2013).
that must be addressed. Li et al. (2010) argue that Africa could learn from the Chinese experiences of agricultural development as it seeks to improve food security and reduce poverty. Hence, research on Sino-African agricultural development programmes, especially those relating to food security and poverty reduction, are crucial.
3.3 China and Africa in agricultural technology development cooperation Chapter 3 illustrated Sino-African agricultural developmental cooperation at policy and content level and dealt with cooperation in agricultural technology as a key element of the Sino-African agricultural collaboration. Chinese experimental agricultural technology stations are one part of China’s improved system for promotion of agricultural technology as they allow technology to be disseminated rapidly to end-user farmers through China’s strong financial and administrative capabilities and well-trained technical staff. To date, however, most African countries lack effective systems for disseminating agricultural technology. In addition, effective mechanisms for dissemination of demonstration technologies are absent from experimental agricultural technology stations, so they are unable to promote technologies effectively.
China has built a complete agricultural technology promotion system. This is a multi-faceted and multi-level system for promotion of agricultural technology, comprising government agencies, civic organizations, private sector organizations and agricultural research institutions, coupled with effective and stable financial support from the state and construction of facilities for transmission of modern agricultural technology. This significantly enhances China’s capacity to promote agricultural technology. In Africa, however, only a few countries have established national agricultural technology promotion systems; most countries rely on international institutions and are constrained by their own infrastructure and capacity for economic investment. These limitations severely reduce the accessibility and coverage of agricultural technology promotion services.
Current Chinese agricultural cooperation with Africa, which is a response to the strong desire of the African continent to learn from China, is intended to help Africa gradually build a system adjusted to local social and cultural characteristics that that can absorb external management and technology expertise, develop agricultural technology that is suitable for
African conditions and look for a dual technology path that, in particular, orders land epitaxial production and increases the applicable technology.
In sum, agricultural technology is transferred from China to Africa through Chinese agricultural assistance to Africa and Sino-African cooperative agricultural development programmes. Chinese technological assistance is a core component of these programmes: China provides aid to Africa in the form of construction of demonstration farms and agricultural technology demonstration centres and sends agricultural experts to Africa to provide technology to African people, etc.
The major route for transfer of agricultural technology via the cooperation programmes is as follows: during the building of farms or other agricultural projects in Africa, Chinese experts transfer their technology to African employees; these African employees then gain the technologies through work.
3.4 Agricultural technology plays an important role in Sino-African agricultural developmental cooperation
Sino-African developmental cooperation is very like US, Russian and EU developmental cooperation with Africa, as discussed in Chapter 3: agriculture is an important target for all these collaborations, but, because of national differences in politics and institutions, there are substantial differences between them. US and Russian cooperation with Africa is regarded as national strategy-led, whereas EU cooperation with Africa tends to be social development-led.
Chinese cooperation with Africa can be regarded as being based on developmental guidance (Zhang, 2013). Agricultural science and technology is one of the most important components of China’s successful development of agriculture. Chinese policies on research, development and promotion of technology have similar administrative mobilization features to policies in other sectors, enabling them to reach widely dispersed farmers rapidly under China’s unique social and political system. Since 1979, China has helped Africa to build stations promoting agricultural technology, aiming to disseminate practical techniques of agricultural production to Africa by making use of China’s success in using rapid spread of technology to transform agricultural production capacity.
This is why technology transfer is key to Sino-African agricultural collaboration programmes, in accordance with Chinese agricultural development experiences and China’s desire to use technology transfer as an effective way of guiding African countries’ progress in agricultural production.
4. Introduction of the field investigation in Tanzania
4.1 Brief political background to the Chinese agricultural technology demonstration centre in Africa
Sections 2.1 and 2.2 of this chapter illustrated the historical and political elements of Sino-African agricultural development cooperation. Chapter 5 provides a detailed description of the Chinese domestic agricultural demonstration centre’s development experiences. The decision to build a Chinese agricultural technology demonstration centre in Africa was based on Chinese foreign policy objectives and domestic experience.
At the Beijing summit of the 2006 China-Africa Cooperation Forum, President Hu Jintao announced that in order to promote the development of a new Sino-African strategic partnership and to extend and deepen Sino-African cooperation, the Chinese government would be implementing new policies in eight areas, including providing assistance to African countries to establish 14 special agricultural technology demonstration centres in the next three years. Later, at the end of 2007, China promised to build 30 agricultural technology demonstration centres in Africa in the next five years in order to improve African self-development capacity in agriculture. Plans for building more agricultural technology demonstration centres in Africa can be found in the White Paper dealing with Sino-African economic and trade cooperation (2013).
In addition, according to the interview with Mr. Sun Chengfeng, secretary of Economic and Commercial Representation of China to Tanzania, Chinese embassy to Tanzania, Chinese cooperation with African countries is free of political conditions. This is mainly because most African countries and China are developing countries and Sino-African development cooperation reflects South-South cooperation. This forms the basis of the current agricultural development cooperation between China and Tanzania.
4.2 Introduction to the field investigation into Tanzania’s Chinese agricultural technology demonstration centre
The main field site for this study was the Tanzanian Chinese Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre (TCATDC), one of the initial tranche of 14 agricultural technology demonstration centres. It is located in Chollima, Darkawa ward, Morogoro region, Tanzania.
Several data collection methods were used: semi-structured interview (Table 6-1), focused group discussion (Table 6-2), second-hand data collection, observation, etc. Table 6-1 summarizes information from the semi-structured interviews. In total, 29 interviews and one focus group discussion were conducted. Parts three and four of this chapter are mainly based on this fieldwork.
5. The current status of the Chinese agricultural technology
demonstration centre in Tanzania and influencing factors: value chain and farmer participation perspective
The TCATDC is the Chinese government’s agricultural assistance project in Tanzania and it is based on economic and technological cooperation agreements between the two governments signed in Tanzania in 2007 and 2008. The centre is run by Chongqing Sino-Tanzania Agriculture Development Co., Ltd., which is a part of Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chongqing, China. The centre has a total area of 62 hectares.
According to the contracts between China and Tanzania, the construction of the centre began in October 2009 and was scheduled to be completed in November 2010. In April 2011, the centre was formally transferred to Tanzania. In March 2012, the construction period ended and the TCATDC began a three-year technical cooperation period, during which it was mainly operated by China with the assistance of Tanzania. From May 2015, the centre was supposed to enter a new period of commercial operations; however, the field investigation revealed that, due to a delay in Chinese and Tanzanian governmental consultation, the TCATDC is currently in limbo (Figure 6-2).
Most of the illustrations in this part of the chapter are based on the fieldwork at the TCATDC, which included interviews, a focus group discussion, second-hand data, etc. To demonstrate the current status of
TCATDC, I have also used value chain and farmer participation theories or perspectives for my analysis, with a view to revealing the influencing factors on the current status of the centre.
5.1 Discussion: the current status of the Chinese agricultural technology demonstration centre in Tanzania
1) Management structure of TCATDC
Management is a core element of the operation of TCATDC. The interview with Mr. Wang Qian, the director of TCATDC’s Chinese domestic team (Figure 6-3) indicated that the current management structure of the Chinese side of the centre consists of two teams, namely the Chinese domestic team and China’s Tanzanian team. The two teams have different functions.
The director of China’s domestic team is the overall head of the centre and is also the general manager for the implementation unit, Chongqing Tanzania Agricultural Development Co. This is Mr. Wang Qian, who is also an associate professor of Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The director of China’s domestic team is responsible for docking Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Chongqing Municipal People's Government.
The director of China’s Tanzanian team is Prof. Chen Hualin, who is responsible for all domestic affairs in accordance with the requirements of the domestic team and China’s economic and commercial representation to Tanzania via the Chinese embassy to Tanzania. Prof. Chen also manages long-term stays in the demonstration centre by, among others, Chinese experts in rice cultivation, maize cultivation, vegetables’ cultivation, banana tissue cultivation and chicken raising. Prof. Chen said that he had spent seven years at the centre as director of the Tanzanian team.
Table 6-1 Summary of semi-structured interviews carried out during Tanzanian fieldwork66 Field work site Data Findings Economic and Commercial Representat ion of China to Tanzania, Chinese embassy to Tanzania
One interview with Mr. Sun and one interview with Ms. Du.
1) Chinese investment in agricultural department is mainly focused on sisal, cotton and maize.
2) Agricultural cooperation between China and Tanzania is currently not a major department.
3) Chinese and Tanzanian companies have different investment philosophies and this leads to serious problems.
4) China and Tanzania’s agricultural cooperation mainly takes the form of investment cooperation and transfer of agricultural technology from China to Africa.
Dar Es Salaam Two interviews with Mr. Wang and Mr. Zhong (Chinese experts at the demonstration centre)
1) The centre is in limbo, because the three-year technology cooperation period has ended and at the moment China and Tanzania are trying to find a way for the centre to operate.
2) It is possible that the centre could operate in ‘company + farmers’ mode in the future.
Chinese agricultural technology demonstrat ion centre 1. Seven interviews with experts based at the centre long-term (Mr. Chen, Mr. Li, Mrs. Li, Mr. Zou, Mr. Wu, Mrs. Wu, Mr. Wang) 2. Six interviews with Tanzanian workers in the demonstration centre
1) The centre focuses on maize production, rice production, banana tissue cultivation, chicken raising and vegetable growing.
2) Most of the Tanzanians who attend formal training courses at the centre are chosen by the Tanzanian government.
3) The centre disseminates technology in several ways: systematic training courses and farmer days when experts visit 15 fixed demonstration points throughout Tanzania to transfer agricultural technologies.
4) The Tanzanian workers are learning new technologies from the centre and they are willing to use these technologies in their own farms.
5) Working hours are from 7.00 to 12.00, 15.00 to 18.00, eight hours per day in total; some Tanzanian workers think this is too long.
6) Lack of water is a big problem for the centre. 7) Sometimes the centre’s communication with the local government is poor. Darkawa village 1. Two interviews with local agricultural extension officers 2. One interview with local village leader
3. Nine interviews with local farmers
1) Almost all the interviewees know about the Chinese centre and they think is a good initiative.
2) Not all the interviewees had been to the centre although they all said they would be very happy to visit. 3) Lack of fertilizer is the most important issue in Darkawa ward.
4) One of the local extension officers had never been to the centre and he said he didn’t know how to contact the centre.
5) The farmers who had attended training courses said they were very useful.
Table 6-2 Summary of the group discussion carried out as part of the Tanzanian fieldwork65
65This table was constructed immediately after the field investigation, in June 2016.
Place Participants Theme of the
discussion Findings Darkawa ward extension officers’ office Darkawa ward extension officer, Darkawa village extension officer, Darkawa village leader, three farmers from Darkawa village Livelihood of Darkawa, agricultural technology needs of local farmers, Chinese agricultural demonstration centre and Darkawa
1) Farmers are in urgent need of agricultural technology.
2) The Chinese centre has influenced the local community: local farmers had heard about the centre’s high production and were very eager to learn. Farmers ask those who have taken training courses and have much higher yields about the technology; local farmers would be willing to work in the centre.
3) Local extension officers are limited in numbers and knowledge and do not provide a very efficient way of disseminating technology to the whole community.
Figure 6-2 Three stages of the development of TCATDC66
2) The development process and the four positions of TCATDC
As noted above and confirmed by Mr. Wang, the construction of the centre was divided into three phases: construction, technical cooperation and commercial operation. The first two stages have been completed and the centre should have entered the commercial operation phase. Consultation between the Chinese and Tanzanian governments is delaying this, but commercial operations are expected to start eventually. Mr. Wang mentioned that the commercial operation phase, which is also an industrial development phase, will have two strands: first, a reliance on the centre’s independent advantage, and cultivate the centre’s hematopoietic function; the second is to promote high quality seeds and advanced cultivation methods to help Tanzania solve the problem of food security.
66
Based on the interview with Mr. Wang Qian, the director of TCATD’s Chinese domestic team.
Figure 6-3 The current management structure of TCATD67
Mr. Sun reported that the centre has four objectives: to build political trust, to communicate about technologies, to expand agriculture and to promote the development of Chinese enterprises. Mr. Wang said that the centre’s first two phases were not intended to be profitable and mainly involved experiments and demonstrations, technical training, promotional displays and foreign exchanges. The centre’s focus in the commercial operation phase will be to promote Tanzania’s industrial development using technology maturation in order to deliver income from agricultural enterprises and food production and thus to solve the problem of food insecurity in Tanzania.
3) The current status of the Chinese experts in TCATDC
Currently, there are five Chinese agricultural experts based at the centre long-term: Prof. Chen Hualin is in charge of the operation of the centre and is also an expert in rise and banana tissue cultivation; Mr. Li Xianhui and Mr. Zou Biao are in charge of rice, maize, banana tissue cultivation; Mr. Wu Yun is responsible for chicken raising; Mr. Wang Daosheng is in charge of vegetable cultivation.
67
Based on the interview with Mr. Wang Qian, the director of TCATD’s Chinese domestic team.
There are two other Chinese women working at the centre, Ms. Li Lian, who is Mr. Li Xianhui’s wife, cooks for all the experts at the centre, and Ms. Liu Zhongqin, Mr. Wu Yun’s wife, helps with chicken raising at the centre. This section is based on interviews with these people and their experiences as agricultural experts at the centre. They are presented in narrative form. According to Prof. Chen Hualin, there are around 20 local workers who work at the centre on a daily basis, helping the Chinese experts with their farming work.
Prof. Chen said that he has been in Tanzania for seven years, since 2009, when construction of the centre began. The centre’s 62 hectares of land are split into two parts, divided by a wall. The 12-hectare walled area is occupied by an office, laboratories and residential area (2 hectares) and an agricultural production demonstration area. The 50 hectares outside the wall, called the production exhibition area, is mainly planted with maize and rice. During the technical cooperation period, there were always 11 long-term-stay Chinese experts at the centre. The records show that, during this three year period, more than 2,500 Tanzanian people attended courses taught by the Chinese experts. Since the technical cooperation phase ended in 2015 and the long wait for the start of the commercial operations phase began, the centre has continued to offer training courses for Tanzanian people with the help of Tanzanian government, but the number of Chinese experts staying at the centre long-term has been reduced, and currently stands at five.68
4) The experiences and stories of the Tanzanian workers at TCATDC
Interviews with the Chinese experts and six interviews with the relatively long-term Tanzanian workers at the centre69 indicated that local people cannot always spend long working at the centre, because local farmers always have big families and, local culture dictates that the person with a job is the head of the family, so if anything happens to their family local workers will quit their job and go back home. Most commonly, the centre’s workers leave to look after a family member with malaria.
68
See the appendix (3): Brief narratives of the experiences of the five Chinese experts in the demonstration centre.
69
See the appendix (4): Brief narratives of the experiences of the Tanzanian workers in the demonstration centre.
There are two highly paid long-term workers at the centre: Mr. Dotto Yohans Maganga and Mr. Denis Kamje Gaudems. They graduated from Morogoro Agricultural University in 2015. Mr. Dotto was the first to find work at the centre and he asked his college friend Denis to come to work there too. In fact, they started working at the centre at almost the same time. They are both paid 300,000 Tanzanian shillings per month; they said that other workers in the centre receive 5,000 shillings per day and that all the Tanzanian workers at the centre are very proud of their job. The longest serving Tanzanian worker at the centre is Mr. Cletus Jhobias, he started working there in 2012 and is now the head of the centre’s security team. He said that he really valued his job and was satisfied with the work of the Chinese experts as he was also able to learn agricultural technologies and had been able to improve his own land’s yield from 35 to 40 bags per year.70
For the reasons given above, it is relatively rare to find long-term local workers at the centre; so, in order to obtain detailed information about the Tanzanian workers’ experiences at the centre, six Tanzanian workers who had been working there for at least five months were regarded as long-term workers and interviewed.
5) The experiences of the local farmers who participated in the training course at TCATDC
According to Prof. Chen Hulin and Mr. Sun Chengfeng, the centre had an annual obligation to train at least 300 Tanzanian farmers during the technical cooperation phase and this was monitored by the Chinese government. In fact, more than 2,000 famers were trained during the three-year cooperation phase. Every training course is delivered jointly by the TCATDC and the Tanzanian government’s agricultural department, under the cooperation agreement between China and Tanzania. Thus, the Tanzanian agricultural ministry is in charge of choosing the attendees and arranging their travel to the TCATDC whilst the TCATDC is responsible for the training courses and providing accommodation and meals for the farmers during the training courses.
During the field investigation in Darkawa, I met three residents who have taken the training courses in TCATDC before. Mr. Makeya (age 40) participated in the training course one year ago while he was working for the
centre. He said that he knew there would be training available and so he found a way to participate in the two-day training course on rice and maize production. He felt that he had learnt a lot about agricultural cultivation from the course and used some of the technologies in his own land. The rice production of his land has doubled since he took the course. He thinks the courses are very useful but he would prefer them to be longer. He found the two-day courses too limited and suggested that the centre host longer training courses in the future; he thought that five-day courses would be best.
Mr. Joseph Eliya Chedego has a family of eight. The main crop from their 16-acre farm is rice. Before he attended the training course, the family’s land yielded only 15 bags per acre, per year; it now yields 35 bags of rice per acre, per year. He said that he did not realize it was so easy to improve production. Before he took the course, his family struggled to feed themselves; now, they have surplus to sell, producing extra income for the family. Mr. Chedego said he felt very lucky to be chosen to participate in the training course.
Mr. Nassibu Kaioio (age 54) had also taken one training course. There are six people in his family. He farms in Darkawa and owns a mobile phone store in the town; sometimes, he also makes money using his motorcycle as a taxi. His family owns 17 acres of farmland, 12 are used to grow rice, four for maize and one for cultivating vegetables. Since the training, his rice and maize yields have doubled. He was impressed by the chicken raising at the demonstration centre and said that he had never seen chickens raised using huge machines before, and the egg production was also a surprise. He said that if he is able to earn enough money to buy the chicken raising machine he will definitely go the Chinese centre again and ask the Chinese experts about chicken raising. He was very satisfied with the training course as he had had impressive results using the transplant technologies on his own land. He had taught the skills he learnt to his friends in the village, and they had also been able to double their rice and maize production, so they, too, were very happy.
A focus group discussion on the topics of the livelihood of Darkawa, the agricultural technology needs of local farmers, the Chinese agricultural demonstration centre and Darkawa was held with the Darkawa ward extension officer, Darkawa village extension officer, Darkawa village leader and three farmers from Darkawa village (Ms. Susan, Mr. Musa, Mr. Frank Mbowe, because only Mr. Dotto Yohans Maganga, Mr. Denis Kamje
Gaudems and Mr. Cletus Jhobias were able to write their full names, only first names can be given for the other three workers whose stories are told here, they are Mr. John, Mr. Frank and Ms. Rose.).
All the participants expressed their opinions on the topics discussed. It emerged that the majority of the farmers in Darkawa ward are still producing their crops without modern technological assistance. The extension officer of Darkawa ward, Mr. Pajun Ismall Iqsavuu, mentioned that the farmers in Darkawa really need to learn about and use agricultural technologies on their land to improve their production and standard of living. Mr. Mwahija Mfanga, the extension officer of Darkawa village, said that the Chinese demonstration centre had a great influence on the local area, many farmers asked him about how they could get on a training course there. But Mr. Mwahija Mfanga himself didn’t know how to get access to the courses. Mr. Mwahija also mentioned that local extension officers like him do not always have the knowledge to help local farmers and, because local farmers are widely dispersed, it is not very convenient for him to walk to every household to deliver technologies.
Mr. Frank Mbowe is a local business man and farmer in Darkawa, he had been to the centre several times on his own initiative, because he heard that the Chinese could produce 40 bags of rice per acre, per year and he wanted to find out how they did this. He said that whenever he went to the centre, the Chinese experts were very hospitable and showed him their technologies; now his own land yields 35 to 40 bags of rice per acre, per year. Mr. Frank Mbowe is now good friends with Mr. Wu Yun (the chicken raising expert in TCATDC) and he is contemplating starting his own chicken enterprise when he has enough money. One important point made by Mr. Frank Mbowe is that the Tanzanian government usually sends relatives or friends of officials’ to the centre, and ordinary farmers like him don’t have access to the courses run by the centre. Ms. Susan said that her family did not have enough money to pay for fertilizer and that this was very common amongst farmers in Tanzania. Mr. Musa knew that a lot of local farmers had been employed by the Chinese centre and had been able to learn about the new technologies that way. He said that if there was an opportunity to work in the TCATDC, he would be very interested.
5.2 Analysis: value chain and farmer participation perspective
1) The main issues affecting the operation of TCATDC according to the fieldwork
There are several obstacles that have had a negative effect on the operation of the TCATDC, particularly since the end of the technical cooperation phase. This section concentrates on the main issues affecting operation of the TCATDC as revealed by the fieldwork. These issues can be divided into political, economic and livelihood factors.
The first factor is political. Now that the technical cooperation phase has ended, time is required to figure out how to start the next stage: commercial operation. The Tanzanian and Chinese governments have not yet signed a new cooperation agreement, so there is confusion over the current operations of the TCATDC. Prof. Chen Hualin claimed that the centre was no longer running as many training courses as in the second phase and the number of the Chinese experts based at the centre has decreased from 11 to five. Chongqing Tanzania Agricultural Development Co. and Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences are searching for new commercial projects that are suitable for the demonstration centre; projects should be profitable as well as involving demonstration of agricultural technologies. Prof. Chen also mentioned that whilst the centre is officially in limbo, it is running some courses in collaboration with third-party organizations, for instance a training course with an EU agency is under discussion. ‘Cooperation with third party is also a proper operation in the centre’s future stage’, according to Mr. Sun Chengfeng.
The second issue is economic and relates to the operation of the TCATDC during the fieldwork. The Tanzanian local tax authorities considered the centre to be operating commercially and asked it to pay taxes. Prof. Chen said that the centre’s ambiguous status has led to confusion and it needs time to discuss the issue with the tax authorities. As commercial operations will be the focus of the next phase in the centre’s history, many economic and marketing issues need to be figured out, for example the target market and how to make profit. Unless solutions are found, the centre will not be effective in the next phase of its operations.
The third issue relates to livelihood or working conditions at the TCATDC. The biggest problem is the lack of water. At the beginning of the
construction phase, the Tanzanian government promised to divert a nearby river to the demonstration centre, but of the urgent operation of the training courses at the centre, the Chinese experts have to pump groundwater for their personal needs and for crop irrigation. The centre is still not receiving river water and is still relying on groundwater, but there is not enough to irrigate the crops; this is the main reason the crops are dying in the 60 hectares outside the centre’s wall. Language and cultural differences also cause problems, but according to the Chinese experts at the centre, these can be resolved over time.
2) Influencing elements: Analysis of the status and future development of the demonstration centre
Chapter 2 described the value chain and approaches to farmer participation. This part will connect Chapter 2 and the Tanzanian fieldwork in order to identify factors influencing the status of TCATDC and new solutions for the operational obstacles it currently faces.
a) Value chain analysis of the status of TCATDC and its future development The agricultural value chain approach is implemented in order to develop a more scientific or a more inclusive value chain, so as to maximize the value of this study. The commercial phase of the TCATDC has not started, because it is not yet clear how the centre can create value.
A value chain consists of a series of interconnected, value-added activities including product design, production, sales, service and others, including some sub-sectors, such as research and development, creative design, the improvement of production and processing technology, training in using technology, etc. (Zhong, 2005). Thomas et al. (2012) evaluated the views of stakeholders in the agricultural value chain in order to improve the value chain and find ways to improve local agriculture.
Identifying the stakeholders in the centre’s commercial stage, therefore, is of great importance. Additionally, all the elements in the value chain of the new projects in the commercial stage should be put forward as targets in the planning phase of the operation of the new projects. The major stakeholders in the commercial stage of the centre’s new project are shown in Figure 6-4.
Figure 6-4 Major stakeholders in the new project of commercial stage of TCATDC
As Figure 6-4 shows, new TCATDC projects should fulfill two criteria: demonstration of agricultural technology and profitability. The main stakeholders can be divided into Chinese and Tanzanian groups. The Chinese stakeholders include governmental authorities like the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Science and Technology and the Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Chongqing Tanzania Agricultural Development Co. The major Tanzanian stakeholders include governmental authorities, such as the tax authorities, the Ministry of Agriculture and local farmers and employees hired by the centre.
New projects should not only take into account all the stakeholders’ views, but also the elements in agricultural production, processing, packaging, transportation and marketing. The ultimate goal of value chain analysis is to meet consumers’ demands and thus maximize the added value of any new projects.
b) Farmer participation analysis of the status of TCATDC and its future development
The involvement of farmer participation is a good index of development and the basis of empowerment, good governance, democracy, innovation and
capacity building (Ye & Lu, 2002). Freeman (2001) even uses farmer-participation-related research to examine agricultural technologies. Therefore, in the field investigation, farmer participated elements are included. Local farmers’ perspectives are also taken into account in the TCATDC’s training courses; according to Prof. Chen, most of the training courses are devised on the basis of consultations to establish the technology needs of local farmers.
Farmer participation perspective should be included in the next stage of the TCATDC’s development as part of a more inclusive development mechanism. Farmer participation in the agricultural business value chain should be implemented as indicated in Table 6-3.
Item in the agribusiness value chain Means of ensuring local farmers’ participation
Production The company will employ local famers to
work on production and with Chinese
experts in agricultural science and
technology transfer.
Processing Local farmers will be employed as
processing workers and learn processing skills.
Packaging Local farmers will be employed as
packaging workers and learn packaging skills.
Transportation Local employees.
Marketing Consult local residents about their
agricultural production needs.
Meet consumers’ demands Consult local residents about their needs for
products, services, etc.
Table 6-3 Farmer participation embodies in agribusiness value chain
Overall farmer participation is an important factor that will influence the value chain in agribusiness. If the aim of the new commercial phase of TCATDC operations is to transfer technology whilst also making a profit, the inclusion of farmers in the company’s products’ value chain will be of great significance. To figure out the stakeholders’ needs and their functions in the value chain also requires reflection on the participation perspective.
