This IDS Bulletin brings together the first collection of empirical and review articles on how China and Brazil are engaging in African agriculture.
It focuses on financial arrangements, practices and politics of engagement, the ‘encounters’ that occur during negotiations, and how discourses relate to practices on the ground.
About the Bulletin
There is currently much talk of the role of the ‘rising powers’ in Africa, and whether their engagements represent a ‘new paradigm’ in development cooperation. This IDS Bulletin examines Brazilian and Chinese agricultural development cooperation in Africa focusing on different financial modalities, practices and politics of engagement, the ‘encounters’ that occur during negotiations, and the intersection of wider framing discourses with practices on the ground.
Looking at Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe gives an insight into the country-level dynamics at play specifically in the agricultural sector; and considering Brazil and China’s own domestic experiences of agricultural development gives an understanding of the ‘models’ on offer, assessing the potential for their adaptation to African contexts.
Articles in this issue examine the cultural and social framings that influence the development encounter, and the underlying knowledge politics and structural power relations. Using a comparative approach an insight is gained into the importance of context and the role of individuals, bureaucracies, and historical experiences, in shaping the form new cooperation engagements take place. Also covered are the practices and micro-politics of such engagements, and how individuals bring with them ideas, experiences and biases which ultimately shape outcomes.
By providing a reflection on what is happening within agriculture, this IDS Bulletin concentrates on a sector central to Africa’s development effort. This emerging field of research continues largely unexplored and it is hoped the insights developed here can be used to unpack and interrogate further the emerging ‘development encounters’, and pose new questions for further work.
The Bulletin’s editors are Ian Scoones, Lidia Cabral and Henry Tugendhat.
Contents
New Development Encounters: China and Brazil in African Agriculture (free download)
Ian Scoones, Lídia Cabral and Henry Tugendhat
South–South Cooperation in Africa: Historical, Geopolitical and Political Economy Dimensions of International Development
Kojo Sebastian Amanor
What can Africa Learn from China’s Experience in Agricultural Development?
Li Xiaoyun, Tang Lixia, Xu Xiuli, Qi Gubo and Wang Haimin
Chinese Agriculture Development Cooperation in Africa: Narratives and Politics
Lila Buckley
Brazil–Africa Agricultural Cooperation Encounters: Drivers, Narratives and Imaginaries of Africa and Development
Lídia Cabral, Alex Shankland, Arilson Favareto and Alcides Costa Vaz
How Brazil’s Agrarian Dynamics Shape Development Cooperation in Africa
Francesco Maria Pierri
Expanding Agri-business: China and Brazil in Ghanaian Agriculture
Kojo Sebastian Amanor
Negotiating New Relationships: How the Ethiopian State is Involving China and Brazil in Agriculture and Rural Development
Dawit Alemu and Ian Scoones
Brazil and China in Mozambican Agriculture: Emerging Insights from the Field
Sérgio Chichava, Jimena Duran, Lídia Cabral, Alex Shankland, Lila Buckley, Tang Lixia and Zhang Yue
Reviving Zimbabwe’s Agriculture: The Role of China and Brazil
Langton Mukwereza
- Download the articles from the Wiley website (subscription required)
- Buy a copy of the Bulletin from the IDS Bookshop
Submitted versions: free to download
‘Submitted versions’ of the articles in this Bulletin are available to download free from OpenDocs, the publications repository of IDS.
These are pre-publication versions of the articles before they were reviewed by the Bulletin’s editors. They are not identical to the finished articles, but they can be accessed free of charge.
Download the articles from OpenDocs
New Development Encounters: China and Brazil in African Agriculture (2013) Scoones, I; Cabral, L.; Tugendhat, H.
South-South Cooperation in Africa: Historical, Geopolitical and Political Economy Dimensions of International Development (2013) Amanor, K
What can Africa Learn from China’s Experience in Agricultural Development? (2013) Xiaoyun, L; Lixia, T; Xiuli, X; Gubo, Q; Haimin, W
Chinese Agriculture Development Cooperation in Africa: Narratives and Politics (2013) Buckley, L
Brazil-Africa Agricultural Cooperation Encounters: Drivers, Narratives and Imaginaries of Africa and Development (2013) Cabral, L.; Shankland, A; Favareto, A; Vaz, A.C.
How Brazil’s Agrarian Dynamics Shape Development Cooperation in Africa (2013) Pierri, F
Expanding Agribusiness: China and Brazil in Ghanaian Agriculture (2013) Amanor, K
Negotiating New Relationships: How the Ethiopian State is Involving China and Brazil in Agriculture and Rural Development (2013) Alemu, D; Scoones, I
Brazil and China in Mozambican Agriculture: Emerging Insights from the Field (2013) Chichava, S; Duran, J; Cabral, L; Shankland, A; Buckley, L; Lixia, T; Yue, Z
Reviving Zimbabwe’s Agriculture: The Role of China and Brazil (2013) ?Mukwereza, L