Helping Africa improve its farm sector

Having realized the vital link between agricultural development and poverty alleviation, grain security and employment, more and more African countries have increased allocations to strengthen irrigation, improve agricultural infrastructure and introduce mechanized farming in order to achieve diversified agricultural development. This, together with preferential land and taxation policies and measures to attract foreign investment and advanced technologies, will promote Africa's agricultural development and create more opportunities for cooperation with China.

Considering that African countries' poor infrastructure is a major bottleneck for agricultural development, China's Belt and Road Initiative can help them change their ground realities by offering them large amounts of loans for infrastructure construction. To make their development process smooth, therefore, African countries should dovetail their development strategy with China's initiative, because the easing of infrastructure development rules will lead to stronger Sino-African agricultural cooperation.

To ensure African countries achieve sustainable agricultural development, China should help them improve their agriculture industries' chain, including agricultural processing, storage and logistics. African countries, on their part, should take measures to improve their agriculture sectors' infrastructure, which includes opening up their markets and implementing more preferential taxation policies.

In order to strengthen Sino-African agricultural cooperation, China should send both governmental and non-governmental organizations across the African continent to train local farmers in the use of modern agricultural technologies and help them convert the knowledge they gather into practical use. China should also adopt some preferential policies so that more Chinese agricultural volunteers make Africa their base.

Moreover, the focus of Sino-African agricultural cooperation should be local development. Many infrastructure projects the Chinese government and some Chinese enterprises have helped African countries build have been playing vital roles in raising local agricultural production, but some of these projects have also invited criticisms for lack of social responsibility, not employing enough local workers, and violating local laws and regulations. To change this, the Chinese government and enterprises should localize their agricultural investment in Africa, including employing more local workers, in a bid to help African countries expedite their economic development.

Jiang Zhida is an associate research fellow with China Institute of International Studies, and Zhang Chuanhong is an associate professor with China Agricultural University.