It’s estimated that China will send 1 million farm workers to Ethiopia and other countries in Africa this year. It’s part of a growing trend of countries outsourcing their food production. On this week’s Underreported, John Parker, Globalization Correspondent for the Economist and Dr. Joachim von Braun, Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute, look at the impact on the countries where the food is grown, and on the countries where that food is eaten. John Parker’s article Outsourcing’s Third Wave appeared in the May 21 issue of the Economist. Click here to listen.
4 thoughts on “Outsourcing agriculture”
can it get any worse for Ethiopia. a country that cant even feed itself is now giving away it arable land for thousands of Chinese farmers for the sole production of food for china only!! keep in mind that it the chinese WHO will secure the jobs and will have every piece of food exported to their country. this, in the short run, might mean foreign currency for Ethiopia but, in the long run, it will increase famine, unemployment, and environmental degradation. what does it say about Ethiopia when it can’t use its land for food production, but allows another country to come use its land and rip all of the benefits??? What is in it for us, both in the short term and the long term? some economic guru help clarify this please..HOW LONG CAN WE STAND AND WATCH OUR COUNTRY BEING DESECRATED?? WHEN DO WE SAY ENOUHGh….SOME ONE EXPLAIN!!!
Idealy having an outsourcing partners, have made some countries beneficials like india and the u.s.a, . out sourcing should be implmented in the way that only benefit both parties. india has cheap labor and english speaking comunity so the U.S prefers to outsource some of its companys to india or china as a result U.S.A would benefit the profi and india would benefit both capital gain and technology transfers.How ever what is happening in ethiopia which is land out sourcing is a dangerous trend. becuse the productivity of the land decreseas as more careless or selfish production styles is taken place. The government need to have a land policy before permiting outsourcing lands to foriegn investors.They need to calculate both the long and short term losses and gains before out sourcing the land .
Very absurd! Meles wants over 1000 Nigerians to come and teach at our universities, and now sell lands to China and allow their farmworkers to work the farms. While our population is sufferring from mirage of economic problems in which incredibly high rate of unemployment is one of them, Meles and Co. are going great lengths to further humiliate our country.
Just sell the whole country and the people then… what is next? May be sell unborn babies, too?