How the Belt and Road drives agriculture's go-global development
“The Belt and Road” can be called the “east wind” for Chinese agriculture “going global,” but to turn this “east wind” into a good opportunity, opportunities must still be seized in many aspects. It is necessary to base efforts on the current foundation of agricultural cooperation, fully utilize and tap cooperation potential, strengthen the intensity of overseas investment in “big agriculture,” and achieve breakthroughs in key areas and directions.
A few days ago, the State Council authorized the release of the “Vision and Actions on Jointly Building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road” (hereinafter referred to as the “Vision and Actions”), and clarified the members of the leading group for the “Belt and Road,” making it a topic of heated social discussion recently.
China has a long history of agricultural exchanges with foreign countries. The ancient Silk Road once played an important role in enriching the lives of the people along the route and promoting agricultural technology exchanges and trade in agricultural products. Through the Silk Road, China introduced crop varieties such as flax, pomegranate, grape, and alfalfa from the Western Regions, and brought agricultural technologies and products such as iron smelting, well digging, silk, and tea to Central Asia, promoting the spread of and exchanges in agricultural technology among countries. For several thousand years, Chinese agriculture repeatedly shone brilliantly in the process of “going global” and “bringing in.”
Compared with “tall, rich, and handsome” industries such as energy, railways, and minerals, Chinese agriculture currently faces multiple challenges in “going global.” The “Vision and Actions” not only proposed advantageous areas and investment priorities for agriculture “going global,” but also comprehensively considered the concerns and bottleneck factors faced in “going global,” greatly encouraging agricultural enterprises that have harbored the dream of “going global” for many years. Facility connectivity, unimpeded trade, and financing connectivity can gradually solve problems such as backward infrastructure, inconvenient trade, and difficult financing faced by agriculture in “going global.” It can be said that agriculture “going global” has met an excellent opportunity.
Food security is a common concern of China and the countries along the “Belt and Road,” and food cooperation can be said to be one of the best points of integration for a “community of interests” and a “community with a shared future.” China ranks first in the world in both grain production and imports. China has technology and experience to help other countries solve food security issues, and also has the need to solve its own food issues. Some countries along the “Belt and Road,” such as Kazakhstan and Russia, are important major grain exporters and are important regions for realizing the diversification of China's grain imports. On the other hand, China has a vast territory and a long history of agricultural civilization, and has accumulated advanced technologies for planting and breeding under various climatic conditions. Countries along the route have strong demand for Chinese products and technologies such as agricultural machinery, marine aquaculture, and protected agriculture.
At present, China has signed bilateral agricultural cooperation agreements with most countries, but international agricultural cooperation is also closely related to multiple departments, making coordination difficult, and some already established agricultural cooperation mechanisms have not been fully utilized. Special funds for foreign economic and technical cooperation, the 50 million US dollars trust fund donated by China to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), and the 50 million US dollars fund of the SCO for agricultural technology extension and personnel training, and other cooperative assistance funds, use knowledge, experience, policies, technology, and professional resources to share and exchange with developing countries. The more than 1,000 agricultural experts and technicians dispatched to 24 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America under “South-South cooperation” can become reserve talent and think tank members for agriculture “going global.”
Since the “Belt and Road” initiative was proposed, it has received positive responses from most countries along the route, and cooperation memorandums on jointly building the “Belt and Road” have been signed with some countries, such as Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Qatar. During visits abroad, national leaders met many times with relevant heads of state and government heads, deeply explained the profound connotations and positive significance of the “Belt and Road,” and reached broad consensus. “Policy communication” will lead the construction of a multi-level intergovernmental policy exchange mechanism and linkage mechanism, creating a favorable investment atmosphere and public opinion environment for agriculture “going global.”
Not only will the investment atmosphere and public opinion environment improve, but “facility connectivity” will also provide key guarantees for agriculture “going global.” Most countries along the “Belt and Road” are developing countries, and roads, railways, ports, and farmland water conservancy facilities are backward, which has become a bottleneck factor restricting Chinese agriculture's “going global.” Infrastructure connectivity is a priority area in the construction of the “Belt and Road,” and will provide an excellent investment foundation for large agricultural investment projects, gradually form transportation networks connecting regions in Asia and among Asia, Africa, and Europe, reduce logistics costs for agricultural product trade, and also provide basic conditions for enterprises to achieve global marketing and build multinational agricultural enterprises.
More importantly, “financing connectivity” provides important support for agriculture “going global.” The “three banks and one fund”: the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the BRICS New Development Bank, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Development Bank, and the Silk Road Fund, these four platforms, as well as the establishment of local government and other funds and the integration of social capital such as banks, will all provide a steady stream of funds for the long-term “Belt and Road” initiative. For agricultural enterprises “going global,” these funds can be described as “timely rain after a long drought.”
With people, money, land, and infrastructure, the “Belt and Road” can be called the “east wind” for Chinese agriculture “going global,” but to turn the “east wind” into a good opportunity, opportunities must still be seized in many aspects.
Agriculture “going global” should base itself on the current foundation of agricultural cooperation and fully utilize and tap cooperation potential. The Belt and Road initiative is not about starting from scratch, but about putting the “new wine” of the “Belt and Road” into the “bottle” of existing mechanism platforms, encouraging enterprises to engage in deep cooperation in fields such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery, agricultural machinery, and the production and processing of agricultural products.
Under the background of the “Belt and Road,” agriculture “going global” should be planned first, with clear development goals and priorities, and strengthen the intensity of overseas investment in “big agriculture.” It is necessary to fully consider local resource advantages and, in combination with the needs of the local market, international market, and domestic market, make well-developed plans. In addition, agriculture “going global” is not merely about going overseas to “farm the land”; investment in the upstream and downstream agricultural industry chains should be incorporated into the overall layout of agriculture “going global,” enterprises should be encouraged to invest in capital- and technology-intensive industries such as processing, logistics, warehousing, and wharves, as well as key fields with higher scientific and technological content such as seeds and research and development, and cooperation in key industries such as grain and distant-water fisheries should be strengthened, the level of investment should be raised, and a group of large multinational enterprises with certain international competitiveness should be cultivated.
The pace of Chinese agriculture “going global” was once like a tractor moving slowly under a heavy load on a field path. The “Belt and Road” initiative has broadened the road for agriculture “going global” and supplied it with energy. May the train of agriculture “going global” in the future carry the common aspirations of the countries along the route and speed swiftly forward.