Chinese Agricultural Training Courses for African Officials: Between Power and Partnerships

•China trains around 10,000 African officials each year.•Agriculture and rural development are top training priorities.•A standard Chinese consensus “model” is not pushed.•Training is sometimes linked to commercial opportunities.•Training should be seen as part of wider “soft power” objectives. Each year around 10,000 African officials are trained in China, across a range of themes. Among these, agriculture and development policy are prominent. In this paper we ask what lies behind this program, and how it fits with wider commercial, diplomatic, and geopolitical ambitions of China in Africa. Through work carried out in China, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Zimbabwe, involving attending courses, interviewing participants and lecturers, examining curricula and reviewing policy documents, we assess Chinese agricultural development courses, supported by China’s Ministry of Commerce. Contrary to the argument that a singular “Beijing Consensus” is being pushed, we find a wide range of course offerings from a range of institutions across China, and extensive debate about agricultural development. This reflects the internal Chinese debate, and an approach to development emphasizing demonstration, experiment, and learning. Course participation involves officials from across Africa, and does not correlate with Chinese commercial interests in Africa. Commercial opportunities may be linked to training, and some courses are run by companies, although instances of take-up are few. The overall direct and immediate impact on agricultural development in Africa appears limited; instead the training program must be seen in relation to building relationships among a large group of African officials, and so the exertion of “soft power” in foreign policy, as part of development cooperation.