1 Chen Shun and John Karanja, “Africa focus: China–Africa agricultural co-operation reaches new heights,” Xinhua, 6 November 2007.

2 “Agricultural co-operation,” FOCAC Summit website, 21 September 2006, http://english.focacsummit.org/2006-09/21/content_905.htm, accessed 15 October 2007.

3 The Economist, 19 April 2008, p. 54.

4 Duncan Freeman, Jonathan Holslag and Steffi Weil, “China's foreign farming policy: can land provide security?” Brussels Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies, BICCS Asia Paper, 3 (2008), p. 10.

5 For exceptions to this, see Bräutigam, Deborah A., Chinese Aid and African Development (New York: St Martin's Press & London: Macmillan, 1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bräutigam, Deborah. “Foreign aid and the export of ideas: Chinese development aid in The Gambia and Sierra Leone,” Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Vol. 32, No. 3 (1994), pp. 325–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bräutigam, Deborah, “South–South technology transfer: China's Kpatawee rice project in Liberia,” World Development, Vol. 21, No. 12 (1993), pp. 1989–2001CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ping, Ai, “From proletarian internationalism to mutual development: China's cooperation with Tanzania, 1965–95,” in Hyden, Goran and Mukandala, Rwekaza (eds.), Agencies in Foreign Aid: Comparing China, Sweden and the United States in Tanzania (London: Macmillan, 1999), pp. 156–201CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 For an excellent overview of Taiwan's agricultural aid in Africa, see Hsiao-pong, Philip Liu, “Planting rice on the roof of the UN building: analysing Taiwan's ‘Chinese’ techniques in Africa, 1961–present,” The China Quarterly, No. 198 (2009), pp. 381–400CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 “Diplomacy through aid,” Time Magazine, 18 October 1968, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902440,00.html, accessed 18 October 2007.

8 Government of Tanzania, Presidential Parastatal Sector Reform Commission, “Invitation for outright purchase of assets of Mbarali rice farm,” Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2004; Ai Ping, “China's cooperation with Tanzania,” pp. 177–78.

9 Most of this was rice (35,700 hectares). Like Taiwan, Beijing also developed a sideline speciality in sugarcane (11,800 hectares). Lin, Shi (ed. in chief), Dangdai Zhonguo de duiwai jingji hezuo (Modern China's Economic Co-operation with Foreign Countries) (Beijing, 1989), pp. 140–56Google Scholar.

10 Jianjun, Zhou, “Xin xingshi xia dui Feizhou nongye yuanzhu de tantao” (“Discussion and exploration on agricultural aid for Africa under new situations”), Guoji jingji hezuo (International Economic Co-operation), No. 3 (1997), pp. 9–11Google Scholar.

11 World Bank, Rural Development: World Bank Experience 1965–86 (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 1988), cited in Carl Eicher, “Flashback: 50 years of donor aid to African agriculture,” paper presented at the InWEnt, IFPRI, NEPAD, CTA conference “Successes in African agriculture,” Pretoria, South Africa, 1–3 December 2003.

12 Sam Kane and Carl Eicher, “Foreign aid and the African farmer,” Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural Economics, Staff Paper No. 13 (2004).

13 Baocheng, Han, “China proposes aid plan for Africa,” Beijing Review, No. 29 (1986), p. 26Google Scholar. These would include complete plant turn-key projects, technical assistance missions or even the transfer of fertilizer supplies or other materials as discrete “projects.”

14 For further details, see Brautigam, Deborah, The Dragon's Gift: the Real Story of China in Africa (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)Google Scholar.

15 Various interviews, Lumley farm, Bo agricultural technical station, Freetown Ministry of Agriculture, Sierra Leone, December 2007. For details on these early projects, see Brautigam, Chinese Aid and African Development.

16 “Fruitful agricultural cooperation,” http://www.china.org/cn/english/features/China-Africa/82040.htm# 10 December 2003, accessed 31 July 2007; CCTV, “Sharing a common fate: the Africa–China relationship,' 2006. Wenju, Yun, “Cong guoji yuanzhu de fazhan kan Zhonguo dui Fei de yuanzhu” (“The development of international aid and China's agricultural aid to Africa”), Xiya Feizhou (West Asia and Africa), Vol. 2 (2000), pp. 17–23Google Scholar; China State Farms Agribusiness (Group) Corporation, “China State Farms Agribusiness (Group) Corporation in Africa,” no date, pp. 14–15.

17 Yun Wenju, “The development of international aid and China's agricultural aid to Africa.”

18 Liang, Si, “China's two new forms of aiding foreign countries,” Zhongguo tongxun she, 8 May 1996Google Scholar, translated in FBIS-CHI-96-102, 29 May 1996.

19 “Africa: top option for China's agricultural investment,” Xinhua, 28 September 2002 (emphasis added).

20 “China's African policy,” People's Daily, 12 January 2006.

21 “Zhongguo jinchukou yinhang: Chongqing nonghu ke qu Feizhou kai nongchang” (“China Eximbank: Chongqing peasant households may go to Africa to set up farms”), Chongqing chenbao (Chongqing Morning News), 18 September 2007.

22 Chen Shun, “New impetus to China–Africa agricultural co-operation,” Xinhua, 22 December 2007.

23 Ibid. “Africa: top option.” See also National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, General Administration of Customs, State Administration of Taxation and State Administration of Foreign Exchange, “Policy guidance for overseas investment, directive catalogue for foreign investment,” 5 July 2006.

24 Ibid.

25 “China Agri Ministry, Development Bank support agri projects,' sinocast.com, Comtex News Network, 23 November 2006. The agreement was signed on 21 November 2006.

26 “China Eximbank: Chongqing peasant households may go to Africa to set up farms.”

27 “CNADC harvests much from the international agricultural co-operation,” People's Daily, 26 September 2007.

28 Ping, Li, “Food security: hopes and strains in China's overseas farming plan,” Economic Observer, No. 374 (2008)Google Scholar, eeo.com.cn (translated by Zuo Maohong).

29 Zesheng, Xia, “Quanmian tuijin Zhong Fei nongye hezuo xhengfengqishi” (“It's the right time for the comprehensive promotion of agricultural co-operation between China and Africa”), Guoji shangbao (International Business Daily), 20 November 2006Google Scholar.

30 “Chinese president: food issue concerns world's development, security,” Xinhua, 9 July 2008.

31 Chinese premier Wen Jiabao's speech at UN high-level meeting on MDGs, New York, 26 September 2008, http://english.gov.cn/2008-09/26/content_1106949.htm, accessed 4 December 2008.

32 Marks, Stephen, “China and the great global landgrab,” Pambazuka, No. 412 (2008)Google Scholar, http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/52; Coker, Margaret, “UN food chief warns on buying farms,” Wall Street Journal, 10 September 2008Google Scholar.

33 CSFAC, “China State Farms Agribusiness (Group) Corporation in Africa,” Beijing, no date, circa 2003; “Fruitful agricultural co-operation,” China.org.cn, 10 December 2003, http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/China-Africa/82040.htm#, accessed 31 July 2007. CSFAC was later folded into the China National Agricultural Development Corporation (CNADC), one of the companies managed by China's State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

34 “Zambia welcomes Chinese agricultural know-how,” People's Daily, 21 March 2006.

35 “Zimbabwe: China turns down Zimbabwe farm offer,” Zim Online, 12 October 2005, http://www.Zimonline.co.za.

36 Meldrum, Andrew, “Mugabe hires China to farm seized land,” Guardian Unlimited, 13 February 2003Google Scholar.

37 See, for example, Mutton, Rochelle, “Mugabe sells bankrupt Zimbabwe's assets to China,” The Age (Australia), 30 July 2005Google Scholar.

38 Africa–Asia Confidential, Vol. 1, No. 2 (14 December 2007).

39 For example, it would have been far larger than the controversial million acre (404,686 hectare) concession given to Firestone in Liberia, for what is said to be the single largest rubber plantation in the world.

40 “L'ambassadeur Wu Zexian: La Chine n'a pas de visées impérialistes,” interview in Le Potential, 14 January 2008, posted on the website of the Chinese embassy in the DRC, http://cd.china-embassy.org/fra/xw/t399806.htm, accessed 8 December 2008.

41 “Le Ministère de l'Agriculture et la Coopération ZTE ont signé une convention de partenariat” (“Ministry of Agriculture and ZTE have signed a partnership agreement”), “RDC: palmeraies industrielles avec un décaissement de 600 millions de dollars par une société chinoise” (“DRC: US$600 million industrial palm oil investment by a Chinese company”), Documentation et Information pour l'Afrique, 2 November 2007.

42 Loro Horta, “The Zambezi valley: China's first agricultural colony?” Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, 9 June 2008.

43 On rice shortages in Mozambique, see “Mozambique to import Vietnam rice to curb shortages,” Reuters, 3 July 2008.

44 news.sina.com.cn/c/2008-11-14/023016649845.shtml.

45 Xia Zesheng, “It is the right time for the serious promotion of China–Africa agricultural co-operation.”

46 Callick, Rowan, “Chinese firms eye Aussie farmland,” The Australian, 12 May 2008Google Scholar.

47 Ibid.

48 Yun Wenju, “The development of international aid and China's agricultural aid to Africa.”

49 Chinese import statistics for 2007 include modest figures of $9 million in edible oils from Senegal (sesame), out of $6.2 billion in edible oil imports, and $4.2 million in sugar from South Africa, out of $379 million in sugar imports. No African country exported wheat, rice or soybeans to China. Burkina Faso, Egypt, Benin, Cameroon and Mali are significant cotton exporters to China. Ministry of Commerce, China Commerce Yearbook 2008 (Beijing), pp. 158–63.

50 Interview, Magbass area landowner, Freetown, Sierra Leone,12 December 2007.

51 Hualien International, “Letter of intent,” Sing Tao Daily News, 27 February 2008, http://www.notice.singtao.com/ADMA/00969/epdf/ew_00969ann-27022008.pdf, accessed 7 December 2008.

52 Xia Zesheng, “It is the right time for the serious promotion of China–Africa agricultural co-operation.”

53 “Energy partnership with Africa based on equality,” China Daily, 22 June 2006.

54 Elizabeth Nambiro, Hugo de Groote and Willis Oluoch Kosura, “Market structure and conduct of the hybrid maize seed industry, a case study of the trans Nzoia district in Western Kenya,” proceedings of the seventh Eastern and Southern Africa regional maize conference, 11–15 February 2001, pp. 474–79. See also Eicher, Carl and Byerlee, Derek (eds.), Africa's Emerging Maize Revolution (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1997)Google Scholar, and McCann, James C., Maize and Grace: Africa's Encounter with a New World Crop, 1500–2000 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 “China honors agriculture promise,” China Daily, 7 February 2007.

56 Interview, Chinese official, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, 27 November 2008.

57 Wei Jianguo, “Speech at the progress briefing on the implementation of the 8 Africa-targeting measures of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China–Africa Co-operation,” mofcom.gov.cn, 13 November 2007; Chen Shun, “New impetus to China–Africa agricultural co-operation,” Xinhua, 22 December 2007; Chinese embassy in Liberia, “Chinese ambassador Zhou Yuxiao attends the agreement signing ceremony for the China-aided agricultural technology demonstration centre,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, 30 March 2008, http://www.fmprc.gov/cn.eng/wjb/zwig/zwbd/t419551.htm, accessed 24 July 2008.

58 Wei Jianguo, “Speech at the progress briefing.”

59 “China attaches great importance to agricultural co-operation with Africa,” Xinhua, 2 July 2003.

60 Wang Yibin, “Activities of Sino-Sierra Leone SSC,” SSC Internal Working Report, p. 2.

61 Interview, Wang Yibin, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 15 December 2007. All the quotations are from this interview.

62 Sanza, Xiao, “Qiuzhang Liu Jianjun de Feizhou shinian” (“Ten years in Africa of headman Liu Jianjun”), Dongfang renwu zhoukan (Oriental People Weekly), 30 July 2008Google Scholar, http://www.opweekly.com.cn/shownewspage.asp?id=129, accessed 5 December 2008. Zhanfen, Hu, “Feizhou ‘Baodingcun’ chuanqi” (“Legend of ‘Baoding village’ in Africa”), Xinmin zhoukan (Xinmin Weekly), 15 October 2008, p. 53Google Scholar.

63 The issue of Baoding villages has generated lively discussion in Chinese blogs and websites, for example http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/worldlook/1/195908.shtml.

64 Xiao Sanza, “Ten years in Africa of headman Liu Jianjun.”

65 Interview, Cecilia V.N. Makota, National Co-ordinator of Zambian Women in Agriculture, Lusaka, 15 January 2008.

66 He told one of the authors that Chinese embassies usually sign agreements with African governments to confirm the land lease contracts. Liu and the Baoding entrepreneurs seek protection for their projects by developing connections with African politicians and local leaders through local Chinese communities. They also locate their projects far from cities, where the land is easy to obtain, the officers are friendly and violence is low. Interview, Liu Jianjun.

67 In an area of 518 km sq, the entrepreneurs planned to build an airport, harbour, agricultural technology demonstration parks, wood and fish processing factories, industrial parks, trading centres, banks, villas and other facilities. “ZhongWu liangguo zai Beijing chengli dongFei ziyou maoyiqu” (“In Beijing, China and Uganda establish East Africa Free Trade Zone”), 7 November 2008, http://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/20081107/13505480670.shtml, accessed 5 December 2008.

68 For a case study of this, see Deborah Bräutigam, “Land rights and agricultural development in West Africa: a case study of two Chinese projects,” Journal of Developing Areas, Vol. 25, No. 4 (1992), pp. 21–32. We appreciate comments by an external reviewer about this issue.

69 “China overseas food push not realistic,” Reuters, 9 May 2008.

70 “Five tobacco farmers leave for China,” Herald (Zimbabwe), 17 November 2008; “Chambers of Chinese enterprises in Zimbabwe founded,” Xinhua, 28 June 2006.