Agricultural Development and Food Security in Africa: The Impact of Chinese, Indian and Brazilian Investments

by Renu Modi, Nordic Africa Institute, Fantu Cheru

Overview

The subject of food security and land issues in Africa has become one of increased importance and contention over recent years. In particular, the focus has shifted to the role new global South donors - especially India, China and Brazil - are playing in shaping African agriculture through their increased involvement and investment in the continent.

Approaching the topic through the framework of South-South co-operation, this highly original volume presents a critical analysis of the ways in which Chinese, Indian and Brazilian engagements in African agriculture are structured and implemented. Do these investments have the potential to create new opportunities to improve local living standards, transfer new technology and knowhow to African producers, and reverse the persistent productivity decline in African agriculture? Or will they simply aggravate the problem of food insecurity by accelerating the process of land alienation and displacement of local people from their land?

Topical and comprehensive, Agricultural Development and Food Security in Africa offers fresh insight into a set of relationships that will shape both Africa and the world over the coming decades.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780323718
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/08/2013
Series:	Africa Now
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Fantu Cheru received his PhD in political economy from Portland State University. He is a socio-economist who specialises in rural development, small-scale enterprise environmental planning and resource management, urban and regional planning, participatory research methods, and institutional building and training. His latest publications include The Rise of China and India in Africa: Challenges, Opportunities and Critical Interventions (co-edited with Cyril Obi, 2010) and Africa and International Relations in the 21st Century (co-edited with Scarlett Cornelissen and Timothy M. Shaw, 2011).

Renu Modi is a senior lecturer and former director (2008-10) of the Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai. She is a political scientist who graduated from the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University. She received her PhD from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Her recent books are Beyond Relocation: The Imperative of Sustainable Resettlement (editor, 2009) and South-South Cooperation: Africa on the Centre Stage (editor, 2011), and she has published on issues relating to India-Africa economic relations from a historical as well as a contemporary perspective in reputed journals. She has also served as the social development consultant with the Inspection Panel of the World Bank.
Fantu Cheru received his PhD in political economy from Portland State University. He is a socio-economist who specialises in rural development, small-scale enterprise environmental planning and resource management, urban and regional planning, participatory research methods, and institutional building and training. His latest publications include The Rise of China and India in Africa: Challenges, Opportunities and Critical Interventions (co-edited with Cyril Obi, 2010) and Africa and International Relations in the 21st Century (co-edited with Scarlett Cornelissen and Timothy M. Shaw, 2011).

Renu Modi is a senior lecturer and former director (2008-10) of the Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai. She is a political scientist who graduated from the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University. She received her PhD from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Her recent books are Beyond Relocation: The Imperative of Sustainable Resettlement (editor, 2009) and South-South Cooperation: Africa on the Centre Stage (editor, 2011), and she has published on issues relating to India-Africa economic relations from a historical as well as a contemporary perspective in reputed journals. She has also served as the social development consultant with the Inspection Panel of the World Bank.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: peasants, the state and foreign direct investment in African agriculture - Fantu Cheru and Renu Modi
Part I: Overview
1. Catalysing an agricultural revolution in Africa: what role for foreign direct investment? - Fantu Cheru, Renu Modi and Sanusha Naidu
2. Agrarian transformation in Africa and its decolonisation - Sam Moyo

Part II: India
3. India and Africa: new trends in sustainable agricultural development - Gurjit Singh
4. India's strategy for African agriculture: assessing the technology, knowledge and finance platforms - Renu Modi
5. Up for grabs: the case of large Indian investments in Ethiopian agriculture - Dessalegn Rahmato
6. Indian agricultural companies, 'land grabbing' in Africa and activists' responses - Rick Rowden

Part III: Brazil
7. Brazil's cooperation in African agricultural development and food security - Thomas Cooper Patriota and Francesco Maria Pierri
8. Brazil, biofuels and food security in Mozambique - Kai Thaler
9. South-South cooperation in agriculture: the India, Brazil and South Africa Dialogue Forum - Alexandra Arkhangelskaya and Albert Khamatshin

Part IV: China
10. China's food security challenge: what role for Africa? - Simon Freemantle and Jeremy Stevens
11. China's agricultural and rural development: lessons for African countries - Xiuli Xu and Xiaoyun Li
12. Conclusions and the way forward - Fantu Cheru and Renu Modi

Editorial Reviews

Global power structures are changing at an ever rapid pace. Now more than ever, our concepts and understandings are playing a game of catch-up to reality. Agricultural Development and Food Security in Africa offers unsentimental and timely analyses of new forms of South-South integration, subordination and alienation. Cheru and Modi demonstrate how land - with its double dimensions as territory and property - is at the heart of these dynamics.” —Christian Lund, University of Copenhagen

“Agriculture is the most important field in Africa and peasants have played a key role in both decolonization and current social life. In the context of globalization, foreign investment in African agriculture, especially from emerging countries such as China, India and Brazil has drawn criticism from the Western media and many African civil society organizations. How to assess the effect of this kind of investment? This book analyses the interaction between emerging countries and Africa, offers insightful views on the issue, and leaves some questions to think about.” —Li Anshan, Peking University

“This is a timely and insightful book. As Brazil, China and India increase their role in Africa's agriculture, fine-grained analyses about the patterns, drivers and impacts of that involvement are particularly welcome. And while much debate on "land grabbing" has been dominated by Western writers, this book presents a mosaic of perspectives from Southern authors. The result is a thought-provoking read for anybody interested in understanding the changing landscape of African agriculture.” —Lorenzo Cotula, Institute for Environment and Development

From the Publisher

“The collection of work provided by editors Fantu Cheru and Renu Modi is a needed and welcome addition to the growing research in this field. . . . Ultimately, this book advances the understanding of the subject of FDI investments in Africa by emerging countries. It is particularly helpful as it pulls together diverse accounts from Brazil, India, and China, and provides consideration of each of the emerging countries development trajectories and what it may mean for Africa. Finally, it offers a foundation upon which future work and evidence can build to help explain and understand the role of emerging countries in FDI.”
 

Journal of Retracing Africa