Land Displacements, Production Relations and Resistance in the Context of Chinese Investments in Mozambique

Abstract

A Chinese investment presence in Mozambique has increased significantly since the emergence of the global financial, fuel and food crises in 2007. In terms of the dominant narrative, Chinese investment in the agricultural sector (and other sectors) in Mozambique is interpreted as bringing about mutual benefits for China and Mozambique. This chapter examines the effects of Chinese investments in Mozambique on land displacement and tenure security for smallholder farmers, the ensuing labour and production relations under Chinese firms and the resistance generated in communities impacted by Chinese land investments. It does this through a case study of rice production in the Limpopo Lower Valley in Xai-Xai District in Gaza Province in the south of the country. A Chinese company (named Wanbao) was granted access by the Mozambican government to thousands of hectares of land in the Limpopo Lower Valley without the apparent consent of local villagers. While members of the rural elite have benefited from this project, ordinary smallholders have been incorporated into it in an adverse and reportedly exploitative manner, thus raising doubts about the project’s capacity to deliver a win-win situation.