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Chinese Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre and Peasant Empowerment in Zambia: Discourse and Reality

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Chinese Investment in Africa

Part of the book series: Economic Geography ((ECOGEO))

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Abstract

Touted as a new way of delivering agricultural aid to Africa, China’s Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre (ATDC) model is surrounded by significant debate with regard to the possibility of bringing about the commercialisation of agriculture on the continent. This study focuses in particular on the discourses and ground-level realities of an ATDC in Zambia with specific reference to peasant empowerment. By focusing on the discourses and realities in relation to the Chinese-built ATDC in Zambia, the chapter pinpoints and examines seeming discontinuities between a very positive discursive portrayal of the ATDC and its localised effects on the agricultural lives of peasants. This also entails a consideration of whether Chinese development cooperation around agriculture in Zambia and Africa more broadly entails a form of agro-imperialism. Overall, a mixed picture emerges as to the effects of the ATDC on peasant empowerment in Zambia. Though prospects for peasant empowerment from the ATDC exist, a fuller realisation of this requires a reconfiguration of the Zambian state’s participation in the ATDC operations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, Ministry of Agriculture, Lusaka, Zambia

    Nkumbu Nalwimba

  2. Department of Development Sciences, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Marondera, Zimbabwe

    George T. Mudimu

Authors
  1. Nkumbu Nalwimba
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  2. George T. Mudimu
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of African Studies and Linguistics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Freedom Mazwi

  2. Department of Development Sciences, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Marondera, Zimbabwe

    George T. Mudimu

  3. Department of Sociology, Rhodes University, Makhanda, Eastern Cape, South Africa

    Kirk Helliker

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Nalwimba, N., Mudimu, G.T. (2024). Chinese Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre and Peasant Empowerment in Zambia: Discourse and Reality. In: Mazwi, F., Mudimu, G.T., Helliker, K. (eds) Chinese Investment in Africa . Economic Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52815-6_7

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