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Foreign investment

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

Medarbetare: Cheru, Fantu | Modi, Renu
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; Zed Books
År: 2013
Ämnesord: Agricultural development, Food supply, Food security, Foreign investment, Direct investment, international economic relations, Agrarian reform, Pastoralists, South south relations, Africa, China, India, Brazil
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 - in particular 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 (SSC), 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.

From Global Land Grabbing for Biofuels to Acquisitions of African Water for Commercial Agriculture

Upphovsperson: Olanya, David Ross
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Agrarian Change, Property and Resources | Uppsala, Sweden
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Africa, Land acquisition, Biomass energy, Fuel Water resources, Agricultural production, Commercial farming, Foreign investment, Property rights, Livelihood, Environmental aspects, Government policy
Expansion of biofuel investment in Africa has been supported by indebted poor governments because of perceived potential benefits such as sustainable energy development, support to poor farmers, development of rural economies and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the intensity of the biofuels political economy in poor countries worsens inequality for the vulnerable poor. This is evidenced by large-scale land acquisitions in Africa for biofuel and crop production primarily for foreign consumption – food, animal feeds and energy crops. The search for land in African countrieshas been triggered by growing concerns over food and energy security in developed countries following the global food crisis of 2008. Moreover, these recent developments in large-scale land acquisitions in Africa are not a new phenomenon, but represent the renewal of old practices incommercial agriculture, which is either conducted through purchases or long-term leases. In addition to biofuel expansion, this study notes that current large-scale land acquisitions in sub-Saharan Africa have been further driven by demands to access water resources for other commercial agricultural crops. The land purchases or leases automatically guarantee access to African water. This demand for water is a response to climate change: most industrialists believe that acquiring land near a main water reservoir will guarantee future agricultural potential. Few analyses have been done on the land-water access nexus. This article considers recent developments in large-scaleland acquisitions in Africa in terms of water security for commercial agriculture to safeguard the production of agricultural crops with a large water footprint. Using political economy analysis, this article examines national policy on these acquisitions, the rights accorded to foreign investors and how land acquisitions undermine indigenous rights to the common resources that have been the mainsource of livelihood in sub-Saharan Africa.

Africa’s Business and Development Relationship with China : Seeking Moral and Capital Values of the Last Economic Frontier

Upphovsperson: Marafa, Lawal Mohammed
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2009
Ämnesord: Foreign investment, Direct investment, Transport infrastructure, Regional integration, South south relations, Foreign trade, Economic and social development, Sustainable development, China, Africa, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
This Discussion paper investigates the extent to which China’s own experience in regional infrastructural development as the center piece of its development strategy can be replicated in the African continent. The author argues that China’s extensive investment in Africa’s infrastructure—from dams to major trunk roads—is a positive development in light of the neglect of this important sector by Africa’s western development partners for many decades. The increasing penetration of China in the African market is spearheaded by the major Chinese state-owned construction, telecommunication, and energy exploration companies who have access to long-term financial support from the Chinese state. This is an opportune moment for African countries to address the backlog of infrastructure investmentthat has kept African development at the minimum.

The Rise of China and India in Africa : Challenges, Opportunities and Critical Interventions

Medarbetare: Cheru, Fantu | Obi, Cyril
Utgivare: London : Zed Books/Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2010
Ämnesord: Foreign relations, international economic relations, Foreign investment, natural resources, Geopolitics, Economic and social development, South south relations, South south trade, China, India, Africa, Political science, Statsvetenskap
In recent years, China and India have become the most important economic partners of Africa and their footprints are growing by leaps and bounds, transforming Africa's international relations in a dramatic way. Although the overall impact of China and India's engagement in Africa has been positive in the short-term, partly as a result of higher returns from commodity exports fuelled by excessive demands from both countries, little research exists on the actual impact of China and India's growing involvement on Africa's economic transformation. This book examines in detail the opportunities and challenges posed by the increasing presence of China and India in Africa, and proposes critical interventions that African governments must undertake in order to negotiate with China and India from a stronger and more informed platform.

Introduction, Africa in the 21st Century: Strategic and Development Challenges

Upphovspersoner: Obi, Cyril I. | Cheru, Fantu
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | London : Zed Books
År: 2010
Ämnesord: Foreign relations, international economic relations, Foreign investment, natural resources, Geopolitics, Economic and social development, South south relations, South south trade, China, India, Africa, Political science, Statsvetenskap

A new scramble for Africa? Imperialism, investment and development

Medarbetare: Southall, Roger | Melber, Henning
Utgivare: Scottsville, South Africa : Published by the UKZN Press with support from the Nordic Africa Institute
År: 2009
Ämnesord: international economic relations, Foreign investment, natural resources, resources exploitation, Geopolitics, Imperialism, Economic dependence, Business and economics, Ekonomi
Dramatically escalating prices of raw materials, driven by rapid industrialisation in China and other countries of the global South as well as by looming world shortages, had for the few years preceding the financial meltdown and global recession of 2009 promoted a new scramble for Africa’s natural resources. It signalled a brisk turnaround in prospects for what The Economist had dubbed the ‘hopeless continent’ as recently as 1999. However, while average growth rates across the continent have increased, the implications for Africa’s development were and remain at best dubious. In this important volume, the new scramble for Africa is placed in the historical context of imperialism and the contributors show important continuities with the original nineteenth-century scramble. However, while the previous scramble was between major European powers, today the continent provides a battleground for competition between the US, the European Union, China and other emerging players such as India and South Africa. This book raises significant general questions relating to the nature of emerging global competition between the US and China; the centrality of the struggle for oil and minerals and resulting militarisation; the international battle to capture Africa’s markets; the marginalisation of African capitalism; and the ambiguous benefits that investment and production by multinational companies bring to African communities. Arguing that exploitation of the continent by comprador African elites remains central, the book concludes by raising important questions about the prospects for development in Africa.

Zambia's policies towards foreign investment : the case of the mining and non-mining sectors

Upphovsperson: Saasa, Oliver S.
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 1987
Ämnesord: Zambia, Southern Africa, Economic conditions, Dual economy, Mining, Copper industry, Foreign investment, Economic policy, Business and economics, Ekonomi
This study argues that the changes in Zambia's policy towards foreign investors over the years from 1964 to 1985 have been conditioned by objective factors, both internal and external to the Republic and that the influence of ideology appears to be fairly minimal. The economy has remained basically 'mixed' in content despite several institutional and structural re-organizations and foreign investment has, thus, continued to play its pivotal role in the country's economic life.