China-Zambia Economic Relations: Perspectives from the Agricultural Sector

Abstract

This research project was designed at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) in 2019, with the aim of better understanding Chinese economic engagement in Zambia, especially examining the nuances of cooperation in the Zambian agricultural sector. A collaborative effort, this study brings to the fore voices of Indian, Zambian and Chinese scholars and experts based at multiple institutions across geographies. In this discussion, the principal authors of this monograph will share key findings from their chapters written after extensive fieldwork. From providing an overview of China-Zambia economic relations, speakers will also throw light on the diversity in China-Zambia agricultural cooperation, dynamics of skills transfer in agriculture, a case study of a Chinese firm using Artificial Intelligence in agriculture while also discussing larger China-Zambia socio-political challenges including the issue of mounting debt, growing negative perception of the Chinese, a growing Chinese diaspora in Zambia among others.

About the Speakers

VEDA VAIDYANATHAN is an Visiting Associate Fellow at the ICS. She has been working on Asia - Africa interactions for the past eight years and is currently based in New York. She has curated and led transnational, multi-cultural teams in projects examining Chinese and Indian engagement in various African countries, across sectors, including Infrastructure development in Tanzania and Kenya, Pharmaceutical manufacturing in Ethiopia, Financial Services and Mining in Zimbabwe. Veda completed her Ph.D. from the Centre for African Studies at the University of Mumbai on the 'Resource Diplomacy Strategies of India and China in Africa'. She was initially a doctoral fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and in 2014 received the Institute of Chinese Studies-Harvard Yenching Institute (ICS-HYI) China-India studies fellowship. From 2015-16 she was a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for African Studies, School of International Studies, Peking University, China and was a visiting fellow at the Harvard-Yenching Institute in Harvard University the following year. Since then she has been a consultant for firms in Africa including the Sino-Africa Centre for Excellence in Nairobi and the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association in Harare.

CAESAR CHEELO is currently Senior Research Fellow at the Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) and Associate Executive Director at the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research (SAIPR). He is also currently serving as an Editor on the editorial boards of two peer review journals. Previously, Caesar served as Macroeconomist at the COMESA Secretariat and before that, as a Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Economics, University of Zambia. He has spent nearly 20 years conducting applied and academic economics research, policy analysis, and consulting for various national, regional and multilateral and bilateral bodies. This has been concurrently with formally and informally teaching, training, supervising, and mentoring young people and peers in the fields of applied economics and research.

MUSADABWE CHULU currently works in the Ministry of Agriculture in the Government of Zambia as a Policy Analyst and is also a Part-Time instructor in Public Policy at the University of Lusaka. Musadabwe holds a Master of Management Science in Public Policy from Peking University in China. His research interests are in public policy processes, agricultural innovation systems, and agriculture - nutrition linkages.

MUYOBOZI SIKALUBYA is a research fellow and lecturer of history in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zambia, great east road campus, where he also directs a Center on Transnational Issues. He holds an M.A in Public Administration obtained from Peking University and he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in economics. He specializes in growth dynamics for Low Developed Economies by analyzing production, consumption and trade, with a particular focus on energy and food. His recent research interest has expanded to forecasting crop production. Muyobozi was appointed as a faculty member at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences under the department of Agricultural Information Institute in Beijing, China. He serves on advisory board of the Key Laboratory of Digital Early-Warning Technology, Ministry of Agriculture.

TONG WU is an independent China-Africa consultant based in East Africa. She has extensive experience in management consulting, marketing strategy, and product management. She undertook a range of research projects about China- Africa relations and investment, including Uganda Chinese Business Perception Index 2017, Kenya Business Perception Index 2017, Kenya manufacturing survey, and Ethiopia Pharmaceutical industry research. She has expertise in Chinese investment facilitation and supporting Chinese entrepreneurs localization. Tong has several publications abou