China Support for African Industrialization to Help Revolutionize Continental Economies

By Xinhua 

September 15, 2023

China’s plans to help Africa’s industrialization is a welcome move as it will help revolutionize the continent’s economies, said Sydney Mwamba, the executive director of the Policy Monitoring and Research Center (PMRC), a think tank of Zambia.

Mwamba believed that the level of industrialization on the African continent has been low resulting in low economic growth of economies, adding that the support will bolster economic growth.

“So this is a welcome move particularly that in the case of Africa, an industrialized African continent will result in accelerated growth in terms of economies,” he said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

He said the mechanization of the agriculture sector will go a long way in allowing farmers in Africa access to lower farming inputs such as fertilizer which has hindered the growth of the sector. And the setting up of fertilizer manufacturing companies with the help of China will be key as Africa has been relying too much on importing fertilizers.

He further said the aspect of skills transfer was cardinal and that it was gratifying that China was willing to train African human resources in various sectors, a situation that will not only reduce levels of illiteracy but enhance skills for the local people to contribute to economic development.

He noted that the Chinese vision of support to Africa was bearing fruits because apart from the infrastructure projects fostering economic growth, African countries have benefited in many ways. The enhanced cooperation has seen China investing heavily in infrastructure development in Africa, which was key in unlocking African economies.

“So this simply means that these infrastructure projects have basically generated employment to the local citizenry in Africa, jobs that are coming from the construction industry in terms of issues of service provision and they have actually facilitated the operations of local enterprises within Africa,” he added.

Zambia, he said, has benefited immensely from China’s support of infrastructure development as seen in the upgrading of airports, highways and energy projects.

The Chinese support, he said, has no doubt contributed to poverty alleviation through the mechanization of the agriculture sector, skills transfer and enhancement of food security.

The training opportunities being provided to Africans to study in China have resulted in enhanced knowledge which was being applied in respective African countries, he said.