These US strategists are amazing that they actually called this type of leasing farmland as "China's colonies". This type of projects is nothing new. If this were "colonization", then the US should be carefull, because they are happening in the back yard of the US<g>
"The project is not the first of its kind in China, Wang said. As early as 1996, the Suntime International Techno-Economic Cooperation (Group) Co. Ltd., a listed company in northwest China' s Xinjiang Autonomous Region, invested US$50,000 in Cuba in developing an area of 150 hectares to grow rice.
As a result of using improved rice varieties and advanced agricultural technology, the per hectare yield of the experimental land reaches as high as 4.8 tons, setting a record yield in Cuba.
The success of the experiment has encouraged more efforts to be made to produce grain overseas. In 1998, the Suntime Group invested US$3.2 million in purchasing 1,050 hectares of farm land from the Mexican government. After four harvests, the average per hectare rice yield reaches five tons, compared with 3.5 tons of the local farmers in Mexico.
"The two projects are successful examples of overseas farmland leasing which has not only brought handsome profits for the Chinese and overseas enterprises but also opened broader prospects for the development of China's agriculture overseas," said Liu Zhiyong, board chairman of the foreign economic company of the Suntime Group."
chinadaily.com.cn |
