{"id":116756,"date":"2021-07-06T19:26:43","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T13:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=116756"},"modified":"2021-07-06T19:26:43","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T13:56:43","slug":"crafting-a-unique-partnership-with-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/crafting-a-unique-partnership-with-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Crafting a unique partnership with Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GQ18O53TJ.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance:<\/strong> African region is full of untapped opportunities. China has made a strong base in the region. India can also make use of this opportunity.<\/p>\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The African continent presents an opportunity for enhancing India- Africa ties in the domain of agriculture. India should proactively provide funds and other resources to unleash this potential to contain the rising Chinese influence in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Delhi\u2019s engagement with the African continent has been multifaceted. Multiple projects have been implemented under Indian lines of credit and capacity-building initiatives.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There has been robust cooperation in a range of sectors, amongst which agricultural cooperation holds immense significance.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>India- Africa Agriculture partnership<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India is an importer of fruits, nuts, grains and pulses from the continent.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India-Africa agricultural cooperation currently includes institutional and individual capacity-building initiatives such as\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India-Africa Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development in Malawi,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Extension of soft loans, supply of machinery,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Acquisition of farmlands and the presence of Indian entrepreneurs in the African agricultural ecosystem.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Indian farmers have purchased over 6,00,000 hectares <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of land for commercial farming in Africa.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Kerala government is trying to meet its steep requirement for raw cashew nuts by imports from countries in Africa. The state\u2019s production capacity is currently limited to 0.83 lakh tonnes, compared to the requirement of 8 lakh tonnes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Scope of increasing cooperation in Agriculture<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The African continent has <\/span><b>65% of the world\u2019s uncultivated arable land. <\/b>It<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> employs over 60% of the workforce and accounts for almost 20% of Sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s GDP. This testifies the importance of agriculture in improving India- Africa relations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, the <\/span><b>African Continental Free Trade Area agreement <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is expected to improve cost competitiveness by removing tariffs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are also proposals to create a jointly-owned brand of<\/span><b> Africa-Kollam cashews<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Similar ideas could encourage State governments and civil society organisations to identify opportunities and invest directly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The transformative power of innovative and disruptive technology has been evident in the African agri-tech sector. The startup ecosystem in the continent enjoyed a 110% growth between 2016 and 2018. This presents <\/span><b>an opportunity for Indian industries to tap into African agri-business <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">value chains.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, China\u2019s influence in the region is a cause of concern for India- Africa relations.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>China- Africa relations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, China is amongst Africa\u2019s largest trading partners. It is also Africa\u2019s single biggest creditor.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Access to Africa\u2019s natural resources, its untapped markets and support for \u2018One China Policy\u2019 are primary drivers of Chinese engagement with Africa. However, there are other factors at play.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chinese-built industrial parks and economic zones in Africa are attracting low-cost, labour-intensive manufacturing units that are relocating from China.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chinese operations in Africa are<\/span><b> important to accumulate global experience in management, risk and capital investments<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China is willing to overlook short-term profits in order to<\/span><b> build \u2018brand China\u2019 and push Chinese standards <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the host countries.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Way Ahead<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While India\u2019s Africa strategy exists independently, it is important to be cognisant of China\u2019s increasing footprint in the region. India should learn from China&#8217;s mistakes and try to avoid it. These include:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Operation in silos <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by the Chinese and African experts working in ATDCs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Existence of a critical gap<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> between skills transferred in China and the ground realities in Africa.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Large commercial farms are run by Mandarin-speaking managers, and there is a presence of small-scale Chinese farmers in local markets. This has <\/span><b>aggravated socio-cultural stress.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A thorough impact assessment needs to be conducted of the existing capacity-building initiatives in agriculture for India to stand in a strong position.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This could include detailed surveys of participants who have returned to their home countries. <\/span><b>Country-specific and localised curriculum<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be drawn up, making skill development demand-led.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The Hindu\u00a0 Relevance: African region is full of untapped opportunities. China has made a strong base in the region. India can also make use of this opportunity. Synopsis: The African continent presents an opportunity for enhancing India- Africa ties in the domain of agriculture. India should proactively provide funds and other resources to unleash&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/crafting-a-unique-partnership-with-africa\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Crafting a unique partnership with Africa<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}