Will Africa Feed China?

• Author: Ndawana, Enock
• Position: Book review

By Deborah Brautigam

New York: Oxford University Press, 2015, xvii + 222 pages, $ 27.95, ISBN: 9780199396856.

Reviewed by Enock Ndawana, University of Zimbabwe

The recent rise in global food prices, China's rise and its aggressive overseas agricultural investment policies resulted in the Western media labelling it the leading "land grabber" in Africa and the world. It is the lack of investigative reporting about China's role in foreign agricultural investment that culminated in the propagation of several myths by the media, civil society, governments and even academia. The gap between myths and realities motivated Deborah Brautigam, the author of Will Africa Feed China? to purposefully find out the factual story behind the Western panic of China's fast land acquisition in Africa. Brautigam unquestionably proves that she is one of the world's prominent scholars on China-Africa relations by investigating the myths and realities behind the media headlines following her two earlier publications. She is the author of Chinese Aid and African Development and The Dragon's Gift: the Real Story of China in Africa, all demonstrating her deep-rooted interest concerning "what the Chinese are doing in rural Africa" (p. 7).

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Will Africa Feed China? is the product of extensive fieldwork done by Brautigam herself and her associates or students aided by valuable statistics forming a key strength of the book. All clarifications are supported by tangible facts. The information-gathering was carried out in several countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Interviews were also conducted with many Chinese government officials and workers at several of the main Chinese agribusiness enterprises in the field as well as at their headquarters in China.

The book challenges four widespread myths about China's overseas agrarian investment policy. These include that: 1) China has acquired very huge tracts of agricultural land in Africa and many Chinese workers are working on it; 2) the government of China is spearheading the effort to acquire land in Africa using its vast state-owned resources; 3) the Chinese are growing food in Africa to ship to China and ensure food security; and 4) China has sent huge numbers of its peasants to settle in Africa (pp. 1-2, 152-159). Brautigam found none of these myths to be true. The author completely rubbishes...