China
has commenced a new training program in Madagascar with the goal of
achieving productivity increases in agriculture and aquaculture programs
across the island.
China
has increased its economic influence in Madagascar in recent years,
including a USD 1.1 billion (EUR 985 million) investment in
infrastructure projects on the island country, which is located 400
kilometres off the African mainland. Much of that sum was advanced by Chinese banks in loans to the government in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital.
China
has put funds in place to sponsor FAO agricultural training programs
particularly in Africa, Patrice Talla Takoukam, representative of the
FAO in Madagascar. Yang Xiao Rong, China’s ambassador to Madagascar,
launched the new training program under the auspices of the United
Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
“China
has achieved food security for 1.4 billion people . . . China wants to
share its expertise with African countries,” Yang said.
China,
one of the world’s leading importers of grains and seafood, imports
seafood from Madagascar and the island is home to several Chinese
fishing companies. However, resistance has been crowing to China’s
presence in Madagascar, with an online petition
that has attracted more than 18,000 signatories calling for the repeal
of a fisheries agreement with China signed in 2018 that would give the
Chinese consortium Taihe Century Investments Development Co access to Madagascar’s waters for 330 trawlers
for the next 10 years. The petition points to the fishing methods of
Chinese trawlers as “extremely invasive, devastating, and
non-selective.”
Photo courtesy of Pierre-Yves Babelon/Shutterstock
Source: https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/supply-trade/china-deepens-ties-to-madagascar-s-seafood-sector-even-as-locals-petition-against-fishing-deal
