Brazil and China cooperation for agriculture development in Africa

An FAC scoping study byAlex Shankland (IDS), Jing Gu (IDS), Lídia Cabral (ODI)

and Lila Buckley (IIED)

Accra21-23 March 2012

1. Background2. Research focus and objectives3. Emerging findings4. Upcoming activities5. Future plans

Accra21-23 March 2012Outline

Rank 2011 2020 forecast

1 US US

2 China China

3 Japan Japan

4 Germany Russia

5 France India

6 Brazil Brazil

7 UK Germany

8 Italy UK

9 Russia France

10 India Italy

Source: Centre for Economics and Business Research

World Economic League Table (GDP)

Accra21-23 March 2012Background

Emerging economies or rising powers are becoming prominent players in international development

Accra21-23 March 2012Background

• Emerging economies are expanding their development cooperation activities

• Their role is increasingly recognized by the international aid system - focus on South-South cooperation in Busan HLF4

• Trilateral cooperation involving North and South donors is becoming a common feature in the aid business

• In 2011, China released its first White Paper on Foreign Aid and South Africa and India launched their official foreign aid agencies

• Emerging economies’ focus in Africa and agriculture is significant and remains understudied

Accra21-23 March 2012Background

• A great deal of speculation on the interest of Brazilian farmers to access land in Africa for high-value non-food crop production – some controversial press about deals linking cooperation projects with land concession in Mozambique

• Same on China – much press hype in recent years about China’s ‘land grab’ in Africa, but very little evidence of Chinese-owned large-scale export-oriented agriculture production

• But the reality, for both countries, seems much more nuanced and complex, with multiple actors engaging in multiple ways

Accra21-23 March 2012Focus and objectives

• Focus: Brazil and China cooperation activities in Africa to support agricultural development

• Objectives: (i) document experiences of emerging cooperation programmes, (ii) understand the rationale, novelty and value added of the approaches used and (iii) discuss implications for cooperation practices and for African agricultures

• Overarching research question: are the rising powers establishing new paradigms for agriculture development in Africa through their development cooperation programmes?

• Issues to cover: institutional mapping, projects inventory, policies and discourse, actors, networks and their agendas, interface with local processes

Accra21-23 March 2012

Emerging findings…

Accra21-23 March 2012Brazil findings 1

General features of Brazilian cooperation

• Cooperation as an instrument of foreign policy – solidarity rhetoric dominates but geopolitical drives are visible

• Cooperation portrayed as mutually beneficial horizontal (South-South) partnership but economic motivations often concealed

• Relatively small in volume (est. USD 362 million* for 2010), though quickly expanding, but offering models developing countries are eager to emulate

• New modalities emerging – concessional export credits (including for agriculture) becoming relatively significant and trilateral cooperation

• Institutional segmentation and policy void• Coordination gaps – coordination at operational level (ABC) but no obvious

direction on content, apart from high level diplomacy• Africa focus strong – 57% of TC in 2010, plus vigorous diplomatic agenda,

growing trade and bulging private investment (mining, oil, construction – and a lot of speculation on the interest of Brazilian farmers in accessing African land)

Accra21-23 March 2012Brazil findings 2

Overview of Brazilian cooperation in agriculture in Africa

• Agriculture as main sector of cooperation in Africa

Agriculture26%

Health22%

Education and professional training

14%

Environment5%

Energy5%

Public administra-tion4%

Urban devel-opment

3%

Planning2%

Social devel-opment

2%Other17%

Technical cooperation in Africa, 2003-10

Source: ABC

• Lusophone countries as main recipients but expanding number of partner countries (currently approx. 26)

• Wide range of issues covered – research, training and transfer of improved varieties/techniques predominant

• More than 20 Brazilian institutions actively involved

• Embrapa dominates portfolio• but others gaining space: MDA with its

‘family farming’ focus• Brazilian civil society slowly stepping in

Accra21-23 March 2012Brazil findings 3

ProSavana: Mozambique (since 2011)• Ag-focused regional development

programme along Nacala corridor• Aims to replicate Brazilian savannah

transformation• Led by Embrapa• Said to combine commercial largescale

and smallscale production systems• Trilateral cooperation Japan-Brazil-

Mozambique• $13 million for phase I (5 yrs)

Aquisição de Alimentos: Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria and Senegal (just launched)• Aims to address food insecurity and

strengthen local food markets• Led by MDA and MDS• Adapts similar programme in operation

within Brazil• Trilateral partnership with WTO and FAO• $2.4 million committed by Brazil

Cotton 4: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali (since 2009)• Emerges as result of successful

WTO cotton subsidy dispute• Aims to improve quality and

productivity of cotton in WA region

• Focused mostly on research and extension

• Led by Embrapa• Approx $5 million for phase I• First large project in the

agriculture portfolio*

Mais Alimentos África: Ghana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Senegal and Kenya (just launched)• Aims to increase productivity and food

security by improving access to technology

• Combines concessional credit facility to buy Brazilian agric machinery and equipment with technical assistance

• Led by MDA• Adapts similar programme in operation

within Brazil since 2008• $640 million worth of credit for 2011-

12

Project highlights

and trends

Accra21-23 March 2012Brazil findings 4

Emerging hypotheses

1. The blending of moral and pragmatic drives in Brazilian cooperation mirrors the competing motivations within government and society with regards to foreign affairs

2. Policy void as reflection of segmentation of cooperation framework and domestic agricultural governance

3. Contrasting narratives/visions of agricultural development4. The affinities Brazil-Africa are often overestimated and are

use as political rhetoric5. Technocratic approach to development, which strips Brazilian

domestic experiences of their political baggage and is ill-informed of local politics, society and culture

Accra21-23 March 2012China findings 1

General features of Chinese cooperation• China has become the largest trading partner with Africa, reaching USD 160

billion in 2011, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. • Plurality of cooperation(s) and relationships forged: all formal political, social

and economic engagement with African countries is guided by the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). However, there are increasing numbers of engagements outside this realm: Chinese immigrants to Africa acting independently; Chinese hires by African firms; some civil society partnerships.

• Official rhetoric of equality and mutual benefit through ‘pragmatic cooperation’, promoting ‘political dialogue and economic cooperation and trade, with a view to seeking mutual reinforcement & common development’.

• Framed as ‘South-South’ collaboration emphasizing long history of ‘Chinese African friendship’, with China as a developing country leading in the ‘modern revival of developing countries’ worldwide (CATTF 2011).

• New modalities emerging – emphasis on economic trade as cooperation; trilateral relationships emerging with OECD donors and UN bodies.

Accra21-23 March 2012

Source: http://afrographique.tumblr.com/

Accra21-23 March 2012China findings 2

Overview of Chinese cooperation in agriculture in Africa• Chinese government has committed to building Agriculture Technology Demonstration

Centers in 20 countries. Aim is to collaborate with local agriculture ministries to ‘boost agriculture production’ in host countries. Focus on technology transfer: seed varieties; planting techniques; production and (some) processing techniques, clean energy technology.

• Mixture of agriculture aid, trade and investment: demonstration centers are aid programs run by Chinese companies and joint ventures which are meant to manage them sustainably after a set time period. Agriculture makes up less than 10% of China's outbound investments, but this is growing rapidly.

• Mutual benefit discourse informed by ecological optimism about Africa’s agriculture development potential: Benefits host country by introducing new food varieties (eg soy as new protein source); ‘improved’ foods (eg ‘superior’ GM crops); post-production processing techniques (eg packaging to retain freshness). Benefits China by helping meet demand for certain goods (animal feed, cotton, forest products, tobacco)

• Focus on government over local communities: Chinese actors tend to focus collaboration on African host country government actors rather than non-state actors. They tend to be surprised when efforts meet with local resistance despite having government approval.

Accra21-23 March 2012China findings 3

Emerging hypotheses

1. Chinese engagements in Africa are redefining the landscape of ‘aid’ from a paradigm of development assistance to one of development cooperation mixed with development investment

2. Agriculture cooperation is guided by a strong belief in the Chinese project of modernization, which has a strong technocratic approach, and an ecological optimism about Africa’s agriculture potential

3. Largely ignores socio-cultural contexts of agriculture development and food security, leading to cooperation frustrations and failures

4. Emerging trilateral agriculture cooperation initiatives between China-OECD-African partner may address some of these shortcomings, but research on actual experience is sparse

Accra21-23 March 2012Upcoming activities

• FAC public event in Brasília in May: The Role of South-South Cooperation in Agricultural Development in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges

• Hosted by UNDP’s International Poverty Centre for Inclusive Growth with co-funding from DFID

• High profile guests from Brazilian development cooperation domain (Foreign Affairs, Embrapa, Ministry of Agrarian Development, civil society organisations) as well as from Africa, China and the international research community

• Panels on Brazilian cooperation framework, Brazilian agricultural policy and governance, the Green Growth agenda in South-South cooperation, and China-Brazil compared

• Poverty in Focus special issue

Accra21-23 March 2012Future research plans

• Mozambique case-study on Brazil cooperation: the dual policy narrative in practice, looking at Nacala corridor project (ProSavana) and new MDA-led initiatives

• Senegal case-study on China cooperation: empirical look at the emerging trilateral agriculture engagements, exploring an FAO SSC project jointly implemented by the Chinese and Senegalese Ministries of Agriculture

• Wider research proposal (submitted to ESRC rising powers call) for larger 3-yr research project looking at China and Brazil across 4 African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) aiming to examine in detail the new relationships in African agriculture

More on the FAC website soon!

Accra21-23 March 2012