Chinese agriculture firms turn to buying or leasing farms abroad

Beijing

INSIDE a gated compound patrolled by armed guards, hulking towers and concrete buildings loom over fields where Silva Muthemba once grew maize and fattened his cattle.

The granaries and surveillance cameras in this corner of southern Mozambique were part of a wave of Chinese investment in overseas farms and agriculture companies a decade ago that sparked accusations of a land-grab as the Asian country tried to secure enough food for its future. The Mozambique government teamed up with China's Hubei province to develop the area, hoping to return productivity to levels recorded before the African nation's 16-year civil war.