New impetus to China-Africa agricultural cooperation

Agricultural cooperation between China and Africa, which dates back to 40 years ago, has seen further development in 2007 with the impetus given by the China- Africa Cooperation Forum Beijing Summit held in November last year.

The Beijing summit has indeed given priority to the Sino- African cooperation in the agricultural sector which, according to Chinese and African leaders, has great potential given the strong complementarities between China and Africa in the agricultural field.Since the mid-1990s, China, through its policy of reform and opening up, has encouraged agricultural firms to "go outside the country" and participate in international competitions in order to accelerate the process of restructuring the Chinese agricultural sector. Many agricultural enterprises, which emerged through the provision of soft loans and favourable policies, have taken charge of various farming projects across the African continent.Suddenly, farms are springing up like mushrooms all over the continent, especially in countries such as Zambia, Gabon, Tanzania, Guinea, Ghana, Niger and Cameroon, where the Chinese companies were very active. --> More information