China’s largest equity fund, the China-Africa Development Fund is planning to expand beyond investment in infrastructure projects to include investments in African agriculture and plans to raise an additional $2 billion in 2014 toward that end. Chinese direct investment in African agriculture grew from $30 million in 2009 to $82.47 million in 2012 and has increased grain production and agricultural activity in 18 African countries. The president of the fund, Chi Jianxin states that Africa’s abundance of young workers and natural resources gives the continent good opportunities to benefit from the high global prices of agricultural commodities and agricultural products. The fund has already been integral in the development of a grain processing plant in Mozambique, a sisal project in Tanzania, cotton production in Malawi, and grain and poultry production in Zambia. The fund also plans to work with Shanxi Tianli Enterprise Group Co. to finance a $60 million cotton production project in Madagascar.
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