Analyzing the Diffusion of Chinese Rice Farming Technologies in Rural Tanzania: The Case Study of Dakawa Agro-Technology Demonstration Center

During the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006, the Chinese government pledged to build 10 agro-technology demonstration centres across Africa. Since then, the figure has increased to 25 and it will likely increase again in the future. One of the main goals of the demonstration centres is to share the experience of China’s technology-driven agricultural modernization with African countries. This paper uses empirical evidence from the Dakawa centre in Tanzania to examine the role of these centres in diffusing selected agro-technologies to local farmers. These projects struggled to balance the goal of technological diffusion with other interests, most notably the manifestation of China’s soft power and the commercial goal of operating a financially self-sustained farm. Yet, from these broad ambitions the centre in Tanzania has managed to contribute a great deal towards multiactor efforts to lessen the information and knowledge barriers hindering the adoption of improved rice farming technology by farmers in Dakawa. Other barriers to technology adoption, including financial constraints and sociocultural ties to traditional practices, necessitate that the demonstration centres improve collaboration with other related actors.Key words: agro-technology, technology transfer, extension services, rice farmin

Negotiating the technological capacity in Chinese engagements: Is the Tanzanian government in the driving seat?

Is the Tanzanian government in charge of development cooperation programmes with China? The literature has portrayed the Tanzanian and other state actors in Africa as passive and weakly coordinated players over the five decades of intensified cooperation with China. This paper will attempt to challenge this narrative by drawing on lessons from the negotiation efforts of individual and institutional actors in Tanzania, as they sought to improve the country’s industrial and technological capacity, among other interests. Our findings revealed a gap between the capacity to attract Chinese investments and development assistance, and extraction of knowledge and technology from such engagements. President John Pombe Magufuli’s anti-corruption measures signal a paradigm shift against the rent-seeking tendencies, elitism and limited utilisation of local content under the Chinese partnership projects. Nevertheless, the combination of a declining share of official Chinese engagements with the increased involvement of private actors necessitates further policy innovations in order to boost inter-firm technological spillovers.status: publishe

Global Value Chains as a Stimulant for Innovation among Producers: Evidence from Avocado Farmers in Siha District Tanzania

This paper examines the role of the Global Value Chain (GVC) in strengthening Agricultural Innovation System through the case study of avocado farming in Siha District, Tanzania. It is informed by 100 avocado farmers from Siha District and 14 purposively selected key informants who were engaged through questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The paper revealed that against the pricing challenges and beyond promotion of access to international markets, the GVC has linked all 100 researched farmers and other local agricultural innovation system actors to new and improved knowledge and technologies. Such linkages have contributed in improving farmers’ capability and enabled them to produce the quality and quantity of avocado product needed by the market and as a result improved their income and livelihood. The paper recommends policy interventions to strengthen and harness the linkages between local innovators and their GVC counterparts in order to maximize technological capability building and strengthen the weak agricultural innovation systems like that of traditional avocado farming. Keywords: Global Value Chain, Agricultural Innovation System, Avocado, Technological Capabilit

Cooperation between China and Tanzania on ICT: fish, fishing tackle or fishing skills?

© 2016 The Chinese Economic Association – UK. Tanzania has ambitions of moving from a mere consumer of information and communication technologies to a designing and manufacturing base. This paper aims to assess the role of public–private partnerships with Chinese institutions in the achievement of this goal. Through an in-depth case study, this paper examines the contributions of three Chinese multinationals in terms of technology transfer and technological capacity building in local firms in Tanzania. The analysis contrasts the organisation of improvements on the manner of technology transfer and capacity building in these partnerships with prior Sino-Tanzanian partnership efforts in technology and industry. The Chinese multinationals had a labour localisation rate of 60% on average, with some training services provided to Tanzanian nationals and supply of services and equipment to Tanzanian firms. However, the overall level of technology transfer continues to be weak. Observed barriers to technology transfer include weak incentives for collaboration between Chinese and Tanzanian firms and low-level technology embedded in activities offshored by the Chinese multinationals to Tanzania.peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rcea20status: publishe

Training abroad and technological capacity building: Analysing the role of Chinese training and scholarship programmes for Tanzanians

The case study in this paper examines the contribution of scholarship programmes provided by the Chinese government in improving human capital in the fields of science, technology, and innovation in Tanzania. The case study constitutes a survey of 85 Tanzanians who have received training in China, and interviews with 13 individuals including some of the surveyed trainees, scholarship administrators, and other stakeholders. While critical comments were raised, the trainees in our sample were largely positive about the Chinese training experiences. Besides the direct transfer of skills and exposure to China’s modernity, the indirect outcome of technology transfer has come about through the importation of equipment and technical literature. However efforts to transfer and apply acquired knowledge have been regularly impeded by structural barriers including cross-cultural communication problems, differences in attitude, and the fact that in several cases Tanzania does not have the capacity to absorb some of the advanced Chinese technologies taught in the courses. Two-way communication is needed in order to inform and adapt the Chinese government training programmes to the specific needs of the recipient African economies.status: publishe

Enclaved or linked? Examining local linkage development in the Tanzanian off-grid solar market

Foreign direct investments in the off-grid solar sector have been growing in East Africa. By linking up as sub-suppliers with the foreign multinational companies (MNCs) undertaking these investments, local companies can benefit from knowledge spillover, which could contribute to improving their competitiveness and capabilities. This depends crucially on the extent to which linkages are forged between the foreign MNCs and the local companies. However, little research has been done so far analyzing local linkage development in the off-grid solar sector in East Africa. To meet this knowledge gap, we examine the breadth and depth of linkages between the foreign MNCs and the local companies in the off-grid solar sector in Tanzania. The article draws on interviews undertaken with eleven MNCs and eleven local companies. We find that the breadth of the linkages was narrow, as the majority of the components and services were imported from abroad. Those which were procured from local suppliers were low-value components, suggesting that the depth of linkages is also limited and shallow. However, there were more backward linkages in the deployment chain than in the manufacturing chain, while more extensive linkages were observed in larger solar systems compared to smaller systems. In order to increase the depth of backward linkages, we recommend focusing on building up the capacity of local companies to offer auxiliary services in the deployment value chains. Furthermore, although small-sized solar systems are seen as crucial components in facilitating affordable energy access to many off-grid areas, they do not offer many opportunities to develop backward linkages between foreign MNCs and local companies