What do you think?
Rate this book
Will Africa Feed China?
Is China building a new empire in rural Africa? Over the past decade, China's meteoric rise on the continent has raised a drumbeat of alarm. China has 9 percent of the world's arable land, 6 percent of its water, and over 20 percent of its people. Africa's savannahs and river basins host the planet's largest expanses of underutilized land and water. Few topics are as controversial and emotionally charged as the belief that the Chinese government is aggressively buying up huge tracts of prime African land to grow food to ship back to China.
In Will Africa Feed China?, Deborah Brautigam, one of the world's leading experts on China and Africa, probes the myths and realities behind the media headlines. Her careful research challenges the conventional wisdom; as she shows, Chinese farming investments are in fact surprisingly limited, and land acquisitions modest. Defying expectations, China actually exports more food to Africa than it imports. Is this picture likely to change? African governments are pushing hard for foreign capital, and China is building a portfolio of tools to allow its agribusiness firms to "go global." International concerns about "land grabbing" are well-justified. Yet to feed its own growing population, rural Africa must move from subsistence to commercial agriculture. What role will China play? Moving from the halls of power in Beijing to remote irrigated rice paddies of Africa, Will Africa Feed China? introduces the people and the politics that will shape the future of this the state-owned
Chinese agribusiness firms that pioneered African farming in the 1960s and the entrepreneurial private investors who followed them. Their fascinating stories, and those of the African farmers and officials who are their counterparts, ground Brautigam's deeply informative, deftly balanced reporting.
Forcefully argued and empirically rich, Will Africa Feed China? will be a landmark work, shedding new light on China's evolving global quest for food security and Africa's possibilities for structural transformation.
In Will Africa Feed China?, Deborah Brautigam, one of the world's leading experts on China and Africa, probes the myths and realities behind the media headlines. Her careful research challenges the conventional wisdom; as she shows, Chinese farming investments are in fact surprisingly limited, and land acquisitions modest. Defying expectations, China actually exports more food to Africa than it imports. Is this picture likely to change? African governments are pushing hard for foreign capital, and China is building a portfolio of tools to allow its agribusiness firms to "go global." International concerns about "land grabbing" are well-justified. Yet to feed its own growing population, rural Africa must move from subsistence to commercial agriculture. What role will China play? Moving from the halls of power in Beijing to remote irrigated rice paddies of Africa, Will Africa Feed China? introduces the people and the politics that will shape the future of this the state-owned
Chinese agribusiness firms that pioneered African farming in the 1960s and the entrepreneurial private investors who followed them. Their fascinating stories, and those of the African farmers and officials who are their counterparts, ground Brautigam's deeply informative, deftly balanced reporting.
Forcefully argued and empirically rich, Will Africa Feed China? will be a landmark work, shedding new light on China's evolving global quest for food security and Africa's possibilities for structural transformation.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 2015
About the author
Deborah Brautigam
12 books22 followersDr. Deborah Bräutigam has been writing about the fact and fiction of China and Africa; state-building; governance and foreign aid for more than 20 years. Her most recent book, Will Africa Feed China? (Oxford University Press, 2015), sheds light on the contrast between realities, and the conventional wisdom, on Chinese agricultural investment in Africa. She is also author of The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2010). Currently Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, Director of the International Development Program and founding director of the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), she has also held faculty appointments at American University, Columbia University, the University of Bergen, Norway, and been a senior research fellow with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. Dr. Bräutigam has twice won the Fulbright research award. She is also a recipient of fellowships from the Council on Foreign Relations and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Her research and work with CARI has been funded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the UK Centre for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR), Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). She has served as a consultant for Transparency International, the United Nations, the World Bank, DFID, GIZ, DANIDA, the African Development Bank, and USAID, and has provided commentary to the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Guardian, CNN, NPR, Al-Jazeera, VOA, CCTV, and MSNBC. Her Ph.D. is from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 12, 2015
For quite a few years China’s “expansionist policy” and global ambition has been the subject of many press headlines. The country, it is said, has visions of empire, seeking foreign outposts with the aim of supplying food and other raw materials to satisfy its own growing demand. Africa is one key area, it is claimed, and large chunks of the country have already been sold to Chinese companies. Is this true?
Well the author seems to treat such ambitious, intriguing and possibly inflammatory stories with a large degree of scepticism. If the country has been trying to buy up huge tracts of Africa, to employ predominantly Chinese workers who will grow and ship food back, it either has not done such a great job thus far or it has been incredibly successful at hiding its endeavours.
Certainly it appears that the author has done her research. All of the claims investigated are supported by extensive sources. There is nothing to suggest that the evidence presented is not correct. Many news reports and claims do get debunked in what appears to be a comprehensive manner. It does seem amazing that so many reports could be so wrong, although as the author notes if a respected news source reports a claim, there is a tendency for it to be echoed around the world as fact.
How or why have so many people seemingly got so muddled up, or to use a slightly off-colour British phrase “arse about face”? The author notes that Chinese farming investments are in fact “surprisingly” limited and land acquisitions modest; China exports more food to Africa than it imports. African governments are generally desperately seeking foreign investment (no matter what they may say to the domestic audience) and China, like others, has its fair share of pioneering business explorers, yet the limited, tentative steps made so far have hardly been successful or large-scale.
What are the motives for those who may be pushing a false agenda? If even the economist of the African Development Bank will author a report claiming China is the biggest “land grabber” in the world, surely in Africa they should know the real truth? The author seems to be knocking down the claims like pins at a bowling alley. As the author writes: “The first belief, echoed in the chief economist’s statement, is that the Chinese have actually acquired very large areas of farmland in Africa. Many media stories have featured Chinese companies (or, more commonly, simply ‘China’ or ‘the Chinese’) as central players in African land acquisitions. Second, it is widely believed that the Chinese government is leading the effort to acquire land in Africa as part of a grand plan, using its state-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds. Third, the conventional wisdom holds that the Chinese have developed a voracious appetite for African grain. Finally, many believe that the Chinese have sent (or plan to send) large numbers of their own farmers to settle in the continent. For example, The Economist newspaper repeated (without endorsing) a report that more than a million Chinese farmers were cultivating crops in Africa.”
The author is adamant – “None of the stories above turned out to be true.” China’s policies talk about increasing foreign investment (but so do many other countries) but nothing has been discovered to suggest there is a plan for massive, large-scale investment in land or African agriculture. The author notes “…surprisingly few of the Chinese investments headlined in media stories have actually taken place. No one has yet identified a village full of Chinese farmers anywhere on the continent.”
For the investments and trials that have taken place, the outcomes have often turned out to be euphemistically described as “problematic”; many myths are circulating as facts, ambitious plans transform to meagre realities and perhaps a lot of hot air has been expended by parties with vested interests to pump matters up.
Large, structural and practical problems exist, particularly in African agriculture, that won’t be solved overnight. Some of the investments made are speculative, some come from people with no agricultural background and definitely with no state-provided finance. “Why does Africa import so much food, when it has some of the world’s largest expanses of arable land? The simple answer is technology: Europe’s 18th century agricultural revolution has yet to reach much of rural Africa. With 54 countries, the continent has an enormous variety, and no country’s story is exactly the same as another’s. Yet overall, the statistics are striking. Some 65 per cent of ploughing, cultivating and harvesting operations rely solely on human muscle – no animal traction or machinery. Up to 20 per cent of harvests rot in poor storage or are lost to pests, compared to only two per cent in the United States,” notes the author. It hardly sounds a prime investment opportunity; even with the entire might of the Chinese state possibly lurking in the shadows.
How is there so much confusion? The author quite diplomatically states it as “In some cases, a Chinese firm was interested, but the investment still failed to go forward. In others, however, those compiling the databases mistakenly tagged an investment as a Chinese land acquisition when it was actually a company from another country. They labelled an initial statement of interest or a memorandum of understanding as a signed contract, and failed to follow up. There was almost no investigative reporting on these cases – journalists repeated them, but almost never inquired further. Surprisingly, as we will see, some researchers did go to Africa to investigate the most sensational cases, yet their published research was not picked up by the hundred members of the International Land Coalition, which in April 2012 still included in their database debunked Chinese “land acquisitions” in Africa totalling nearly 3 million hectares.”
There’s more: “More to the point: the Internet is a wonderful tool, but it creates a challenge for those seeking to know the real dimensions of phenomena like foreign land acquisitions in far-away places. As we saw in the case of Mozambique, poorly-checked stories can multiply, with fiction popping up as fact in books and articles by writers who assume, because it appeared in a well-regarded newspaper like The Economist, or The Guardian, or a respected website hosted by a top-ranked think tank, it must be true. Furthermore, we now live in an era of ‘big data’ and ‘killer facts.’ In the social sciences, many students learn that as long as they have access to a dataset, they can write dissertations about development without ever visiting a developing country.”
Of course, this could all be an elaborate cover story, being set up on the orders of Beijing. The balance of probabilities and a cup of strong coffee tend to point in the author’s favour, however.
To the question “Have the Chinese acquired large areas of farmland in Africa?” the author answers: “No – or at least, not yet. If Chinese companies had actually acquired all the land they were alleged to have acquired since 2000, they would have ‘grabbed’ nearly 6 million hectares, just under one per cent of all of the arable land on the continent. Yet as we have seen, Chinese agribusinesses have actually acquired very little land in Africa. Even including all the farms acquired in the 1990s, and the GMG Global plantations in West Africa, Chinese companies still hold fewer than 250,000 hectares of African land, an area roughly equivalent to twice the size of New York City. Discouraged by poor infrastructure, political instability, and the sober realization that profits were likely to prove more elusive than hoped, Chinese firms came, explored, and then went elsewhere.”
Will they return? Maybe that depends on the pace and willingness for change in individual countries.
This book certainly was an engaging, eye-opening read that appears to throw many buckets of cold water on a narrative that many perhaps want to believe is true, to fit pre-ordained opinions and viewpoints. The reader does not even need to care about African or Chinese politics and agriculture to find this a different, passionate and informative book that could give them literary company for many evenings. The book does not seek to portray China as a total innocent who only wants to focus on its own country, even though it struggles to do that at the best of times presently. It was all really fascinating and whilst it can diminish the reader’s “global-marching views” of China, it can and does further act as a wake-up call to many African countries to improve their own lot and that of their inhabitants.
Autamme.com
Well the author seems to treat such ambitious, intriguing and possibly inflammatory stories with a large degree of scepticism. If the country has been trying to buy up huge tracts of Africa, to employ predominantly Chinese workers who will grow and ship food back, it either has not done such a great job thus far or it has been incredibly successful at hiding its endeavours.
Certainly it appears that the author has done her research. All of the claims investigated are supported by extensive sources. There is nothing to suggest that the evidence presented is not correct. Many news reports and claims do get debunked in what appears to be a comprehensive manner. It does seem amazing that so many reports could be so wrong, although as the author notes if a respected news source reports a claim, there is a tendency for it to be echoed around the world as fact.
How or why have so many people seemingly got so muddled up, or to use a slightly off-colour British phrase “arse about face”? The author notes that Chinese farming investments are in fact “surprisingly” limited and land acquisitions modest; China exports more food to Africa than it imports. African governments are generally desperately seeking foreign investment (no matter what they may say to the domestic audience) and China, like others, has its fair share of pioneering business explorers, yet the limited, tentative steps made so far have hardly been successful or large-scale.
What are the motives for those who may be pushing a false agenda? If even the economist of the African Development Bank will author a report claiming China is the biggest “land grabber” in the world, surely in Africa they should know the real truth? The author seems to be knocking down the claims like pins at a bowling alley. As the author writes: “The first belief, echoed in the chief economist’s statement, is that the Chinese have actually acquired very large areas of farmland in Africa. Many media stories have featured Chinese companies (or, more commonly, simply ‘China’ or ‘the Chinese’) as central players in African land acquisitions. Second, it is widely believed that the Chinese government is leading the effort to acquire land in Africa as part of a grand plan, using its state-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds. Third, the conventional wisdom holds that the Chinese have developed a voracious appetite for African grain. Finally, many believe that the Chinese have sent (or plan to send) large numbers of their own farmers to settle in the continent. For example, The Economist newspaper repeated (without endorsing) a report that more than a million Chinese farmers were cultivating crops in Africa.”
The author is adamant – “None of the stories above turned out to be true.” China’s policies talk about increasing foreign investment (but so do many other countries) but nothing has been discovered to suggest there is a plan for massive, large-scale investment in land or African agriculture. The author notes “…surprisingly few of the Chinese investments headlined in media stories have actually taken place. No one has yet identified a village full of Chinese farmers anywhere on the continent.”
For the investments and trials that have taken place, the outcomes have often turned out to be euphemistically described as “problematic”; many myths are circulating as facts, ambitious plans transform to meagre realities and perhaps a lot of hot air has been expended by parties with vested interests to pump matters up.
Large, structural and practical problems exist, particularly in African agriculture, that won’t be solved overnight. Some of the investments made are speculative, some come from people with no agricultural background and definitely with no state-provided finance. “Why does Africa import so much food, when it has some of the world’s largest expanses of arable land? The simple answer is technology: Europe’s 18th century agricultural revolution has yet to reach much of rural Africa. With 54 countries, the continent has an enormous variety, and no country’s story is exactly the same as another’s. Yet overall, the statistics are striking. Some 65 per cent of ploughing, cultivating and harvesting operations rely solely on human muscle – no animal traction or machinery. Up to 20 per cent of harvests rot in poor storage or are lost to pests, compared to only two per cent in the United States,” notes the author. It hardly sounds a prime investment opportunity; even with the entire might of the Chinese state possibly lurking in the shadows.
How is there so much confusion? The author quite diplomatically states it as “In some cases, a Chinese firm was interested, but the investment still failed to go forward. In others, however, those compiling the databases mistakenly tagged an investment as a Chinese land acquisition when it was actually a company from another country. They labelled an initial statement of interest or a memorandum of understanding as a signed contract, and failed to follow up. There was almost no investigative reporting on these cases – journalists repeated them, but almost never inquired further. Surprisingly, as we will see, some researchers did go to Africa to investigate the most sensational cases, yet their published research was not picked up by the hundred members of the International Land Coalition, which in April 2012 still included in their database debunked Chinese “land acquisitions” in Africa totalling nearly 3 million hectares.”
There’s more: “More to the point: the Internet is a wonderful tool, but it creates a challenge for those seeking to know the real dimensions of phenomena like foreign land acquisitions in far-away places. As we saw in the case of Mozambique, poorly-checked stories can multiply, with fiction popping up as fact in books and articles by writers who assume, because it appeared in a well-regarded newspaper like The Economist, or The Guardian, or a respected website hosted by a top-ranked think tank, it must be true. Furthermore, we now live in an era of ‘big data’ and ‘killer facts.’ In the social sciences, many students learn that as long as they have access to a dataset, they can write dissertations about development without ever visiting a developing country.”
Of course, this could all be an elaborate cover story, being set up on the orders of Beijing. The balance of probabilities and a cup of strong coffee tend to point in the author’s favour, however.
To the question “Have the Chinese acquired large areas of farmland in Africa?” the author answers: “No – or at least, not yet. If Chinese companies had actually acquired all the land they were alleged to have acquired since 2000, they would have ‘grabbed’ nearly 6 million hectares, just under one per cent of all of the arable land on the continent. Yet as we have seen, Chinese agribusinesses have actually acquired very little land in Africa. Even including all the farms acquired in the 1990s, and the GMG Global plantations in West Africa, Chinese companies still hold fewer than 250,000 hectares of African land, an area roughly equivalent to twice the size of New York City. Discouraged by poor infrastructure, political instability, and the sober realization that profits were likely to prove more elusive than hoped, Chinese firms came, explored, and then went elsewhere.”
Will they return? Maybe that depends on the pace and willingness for change in individual countries.
This book certainly was an engaging, eye-opening read that appears to throw many buckets of cold water on a narrative that many perhaps want to believe is true, to fit pre-ordained opinions and viewpoints. The reader does not even need to care about African or Chinese politics and agriculture to find this a different, passionate and informative book that could give them literary company for many evenings. The book does not seek to portray China as a total innocent who only wants to focus on its own country, even though it struggles to do that at the best of times presently. It was all really fascinating and whilst it can diminish the reader’s “global-marching views” of China, it can and does further act as a wake-up call to many African countries to improve their own lot and that of their inhabitants.
Autamme.com
July 2, 2018
Essential reading on China's agribusiness involvement in Africa. Brautigam goes beyond the sensationalist headlines, drawing on meticulous research to show that China's engagement with African agriculture is - contrary to popular belief - very limited. There are no 'land grabs', there is no massive export of African crops to "feed China"; there are a few joint ventures and showcase projects, all relatively small, with varying levels of success.
The book indicates that, rather than there being too much Chinese investment in African agriculture, there is probably too little. Many food-importing African countries stand to benefit a great deal from Chinese investment and agricultural expertise, if a workable model can be found. This will require further experimentation over the coming years.
The book indicates that, rather than there being too much Chinese investment in African agriculture, there is probably too little. Many food-importing African countries stand to benefit a great deal from Chinese investment and agricultural expertise, if a workable model can be found. This will require further experimentation over the coming years.
October 8, 2020
Will Africa Feed China? by Deborah Brautigam is a look at China's involvement in Africa. Brautigam is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy and Director of the International Development Program (IDEV), and the China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC.
There can be little denial of China's interest in Africa and its resources and arable land. The question is what is the purpose of China's involvement. China's need for minerals and metal from Africa is understandable as it is an export economy. But farming Africa seems counterproductive. Many Americans remember growing up and being told to eat all our food because there are starving children in China. In the 1980s, our televisions were full of videos of the famine in Africa. What can farming in Africa produce?
China is not starving. It produces enough grains and is looking to import corn and soybeans as animal feed. The Chinese diet is becoming much more meat centered. Food security is as important as food production and China is working on securing its future. China's food interest in Africa is not altruistic, but for profit. China is not stealing food from Africa but working to develop, produce, and sell food locally. China has more than enough cheap labor farming at home that importing grains is not cost effective. Controlling production is effective. China wants to have its own Archer Daniels Midlands or Cargill and is looking to Africa for its farmland.
Sub- Saharan Africa, counter to popular belief, is fertile and has plenty of fresh water. The problem is access to the land and water. The most fertile areas are difficult to get to or require advanced irrigation. China aims to bring technology to the region and profit from it and at the same time be seen as spreading good will. The appearance of goodwill is necessary in a region that has seen outsiders as colonial powers.
Brautigam works to dispel many myths circulating about China’s involvement in Africa. Rumors of massive numbers of Chinese farming in Africa and buying up land. There are also rumors of China exporting rice it grew in Ethiopia despite a starving population. Will Africa Feed China is a well-researched look at China’s involvement in African agriculture. For those worried about China grabbing land in Africa, America is well ahead of the Chinese. A timely book providing an accurate picture of world affairs.
There can be little denial of China's interest in Africa and its resources and arable land. The question is what is the purpose of China's involvement. China's need for minerals and metal from Africa is understandable as it is an export economy. But farming Africa seems counterproductive. Many Americans remember growing up and being told to eat all our food because there are starving children in China. In the 1980s, our televisions were full of videos of the famine in Africa. What can farming in Africa produce?
China is not starving. It produces enough grains and is looking to import corn and soybeans as animal feed. The Chinese diet is becoming much more meat centered. Food security is as important as food production and China is working on securing its future. China's food interest in Africa is not altruistic, but for profit. China is not stealing food from Africa but working to develop, produce, and sell food locally. China has more than enough cheap labor farming at home that importing grains is not cost effective. Controlling production is effective. China wants to have its own Archer Daniels Midlands or Cargill and is looking to Africa for its farmland.
Sub- Saharan Africa, counter to popular belief, is fertile and has plenty of fresh water. The problem is access to the land and water. The most fertile areas are difficult to get to or require advanced irrigation. China aims to bring technology to the region and profit from it and at the same time be seen as spreading good will. The appearance of goodwill is necessary in a region that has seen outsiders as colonial powers.
Brautigam works to dispel many myths circulating about China’s involvement in Africa. Rumors of massive numbers of Chinese farming in Africa and buying up land. There are also rumors of China exporting rice it grew in Ethiopia despite a starving population. Will Africa Feed China is a well-researched look at China’s involvement in African agriculture. For those worried about China grabbing land in Africa, America is well ahead of the Chinese. A timely book providing an accurate picture of world affairs.
August 5, 2018
Deborah Brautigam does what Western journalists seem uncapable of doing, which is to physically visit African communities and observe the realities on the ground, field researching and cross-checking one’s sources instead of uncritically repeating sloppy and popular tropes that ruffle no feathers. What emerges is a picture that is far from what our news media paints us.
Brautigam starts out with four “myths” about China’s agricultural involvement in Africa: 1) the Chinese have acquired large areas of farmland; 2) the Chinese government is leading this effort through its state-owned firms and sovereign wealth funds; 3) the Chinese are growing grain for export to China; and 4) the Chinese have sent (or plan to send) large numbers of Chinese farmers to settle on the continent. When looking at the actual data it appears how disconnected from reality these widespread beliefs actually are. In my opinion the book is at its best when the author explicitly dispels these notions, and that is why I would advise people with limited knowledge of Africa (or China for that matter) to stick to the introduction and concluding chapter the first time around. I found the intermediate chapters to be quite challenging to digest as I don’t have sufficient knowledge of African history and politics, and the ceaseless acronyms of different Chinese companies and entities being introduced certainly don’t make it any easier to follow. If I had been more well-read on the topic I surely would have gotten more out of it, but you need to start somewhere. Just glad someone’s actually doing this research. So much reporting from Africa is built around either bogus economic data or anecdotes.
Brautigam starts out with four “myths” about China’s agricultural involvement in Africa: 1) the Chinese have acquired large areas of farmland; 2) the Chinese government is leading this effort through its state-owned firms and sovereign wealth funds; 3) the Chinese are growing grain for export to China; and 4) the Chinese have sent (or plan to send) large numbers of Chinese farmers to settle on the continent. When looking at the actual data it appears how disconnected from reality these widespread beliefs actually are. In my opinion the book is at its best when the author explicitly dispels these notions, and that is why I would advise people with limited knowledge of Africa (or China for that matter) to stick to the introduction and concluding chapter the first time around. I found the intermediate chapters to be quite challenging to digest as I don’t have sufficient knowledge of African history and politics, and the ceaseless acronyms of different Chinese companies and entities being introduced certainly don’t make it any easier to follow. If I had been more well-read on the topic I surely would have gotten more out of it, but you need to start somewhere. Just glad someone’s actually doing this research. So much reporting from Africa is built around either bogus economic data or anecdotes.
February 15, 2021
While there's no doubt that China is an important investor in Africa, there is also considerable hype, which this book tries to dispel. Chinese land acquisition for farming is much less in size and much more problematic than discussed in initial, optimistic announcements. This hype may arise as hopeful PR, or as an attempt to defraud lenders or investors in Chinese African projects. In the early years of these investments, the China central government may be active, and sometimes provincial governments as well. However, these state actions aren't always coordinated, and the government bodies generally hand over to Chinese companies and African partners after a few years. The purpose of the state involvement may be to groom Chinese ag companies to become the next Cargil or Monsanto, rather than to dominate in Africa or another region. These companies produce for the local market or ship out traditional export commodities like sugar and rubber. There is no evidence that China ever planned or would be allowed to export basic, everyday food from Africa to China while letting Africans starve. Not all Chinese investments succeed, due to poor infrastructure, coups, civil wars, protests from displaced African farmers and community activists, governments backtracking on commitments, double-crossing partners, and electoral violence among other challenges. There is no plan to bring in massive numbers of Chinese settlers to farming; Chinese technicians come in for assignments that may last a few years, but African governments make it difficult for them to overstay with work permits and visa restrictions. Africans are not passive bystanders.
June 5, 2019
As a reporter who has reported on China's role in Africa. I found this volume interesting in particular the discussion of the global sugar industry. Some of the stories she tells have been told elsewhere but, her singular focus on agriculture means they are often told well here.
However, her views on Mozambique can appear at times naive. She seems charmed with what is one of Africa's most brutal authoritarian states.
The author speaks in generally positive terms of FRELIMO who have ruled Mozambique since independence. During their struggle for independence she speaks of guerrillas who
"melted into the mountains and jungles." later she is quick to tell us that RENAMO, FRELIMO's opponent during the Civil War was supported by "white-ruled South Africa" it might have been worth noting given her topic that FRELIMO received weapons, training, and support from China.
I am glad the author was allowed to safely study and research in Mozambique. Others have not been so lucky. Gilles Cistac, a French-Mozambican academic was shot and killed on the streets of Maputo in 2015 and Carlos Cardoso a journalist investigating corruption in the FRELIMO government was shot and killed not far away at a spot in 2002.
However, her views on Mozambique can appear at times naive. She seems charmed with what is one of Africa's most brutal authoritarian states.
The author speaks in generally positive terms of FRELIMO who have ruled Mozambique since independence. During their struggle for independence she speaks of guerrillas who
"melted into the mountains and jungles." later she is quick to tell us that RENAMO, FRELIMO's opponent during the Civil War was supported by "white-ruled South Africa" it might have been worth noting given her topic that FRELIMO received weapons, training, and support from China.
I am glad the author was allowed to safely study and research in Mozambique. Others have not been so lucky. Gilles Cistac, a French-Mozambican academic was shot and killed on the streets of Maputo in 2015 and Carlos Cardoso a journalist investigating corruption in the FRELIMO government was shot and killed not far away at a spot in 2002.
September 6, 2020
No, at least probably not until after Africa feeds Africa. This short book challenges four widespread beliefs: that China has acquired very large areas of farmland in Africa, that the Chinese government is leading the effort to acquire land, that the Chinese have developed a voracious appetite for African grain, and that the Chinese government has sent large numbers of Chinese peasants to settle in Africa. Brautigam's fieldwork and interviews show that Chinese agribusiness in Africa hasn't quite worked out like the Chinese thought it would, over decades and up to today. One short chapter also highlights the sensational yet inaccurate media hype over the issue. Style-wise, thankfully there was only one occurrence of italicizing something in the text this time.
September 30, 2020
Bräutigams Buch tritt an vier Fragen zu beantworten:
(1) Have the Chinese acquired large areas of farmland?
(2) Is the Chinese government leading this effort through its state-owned firms and sovereign wealth funds?
(3) Are the Chinese growing grain for export to China?
(4) Have the Chinese sent (or plan to send) large numbers of Chinese farmers to settle on the continent?
Die Antworten sind klar und deutlich: (1) Nein, (2) Nein, (3) Nein und (4) Nein. Die Wirtschaftsdaten und Interviews mit Menschen vor Ort zeigen ganz klar, dass an keinen dieser Vorwürfe an die Afrikapolitik Chinas etwas dran ist.
(1) Have the Chinese acquired large areas of farmland?
(2) Is the Chinese government leading this effort through its state-owned firms and sovereign wealth funds?
(3) Are the Chinese growing grain for export to China?
(4) Have the Chinese sent (or plan to send) large numbers of Chinese farmers to settle on the continent?
Die Antworten sind klar und deutlich: (1) Nein, (2) Nein, (3) Nein und (4) Nein. Die Wirtschaftsdaten und Interviews mit Menschen vor Ort zeigen ganz klar, dass an keinen dieser Vorwürfe an die Afrikapolitik Chinas etwas dran ist.
January 25, 2026
For readers interested in development, geopolitics, and Global South futures, this book provides sophisticated and empirically grounded insight. China exports significantly more to Africa than it imports in terms of overall trade. 🇨🇳
February 9, 2021
Well-written account of Chin's investments in Africa. Reasonable and presented logically.
December 5, 2015
A good read during business trip!!
This book certainly was an engaging, eye-opening read that appears to throw many buckets of cold water on a narrative that many perhaps want to believe is true, to fit pre-ordained opinions and viewpoints. The reader does not even need to care about African or Chinese politics and agriculture to find this a different, passionate and informative book that could give them literary company for many evenings. The book does not seek to portray China as a total innocent who only wants to focus on its own country, even though it struggles to do that at the best of times presently. It was all really fascinating and whilst it can diminish the reader’s “global-marching views” of China, it can and does further act as a wake-up call to many African countries to improve their own lot and that of their inhabitants.
This book certainly was an engaging, eye-opening read that appears to throw many buckets of cold water on a narrative that many perhaps want to believe is true, to fit pre-ordained opinions and viewpoints. The reader does not even need to care about African or Chinese politics and agriculture to find this a different, passionate and informative book that could give them literary company for many evenings. The book does not seek to portray China as a total innocent who only wants to focus on its own country, even though it struggles to do that at the best of times presently. It was all really fascinating and whilst it can diminish the reader’s “global-marching views” of China, it can and does further act as a wake-up call to many African countries to improve their own lot and that of their inhabitants.
Want to Read
November 16, 2015Reviewed by CN Daily
February 20, 2018
It wouldn't be very prudent of me to rate this book since it would be a biased review. All I can say is that I hope you will read it.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews