Increasing Agricultural Productivity:
Encouraging Foreign Direct Investments in the COMCEC Region
48
Medicinal & botanical 11 770.7 70.1 1,566 142
Animal production 9 612.0 68.0 2,200 244
Wood products 9 390.2 43.4 1,557 173
All other food 9 317.9 35.3 2,118 235
Animal food 6 616.5 102.8 1,757 292
Forestry & logging 4 173.9 43.5 894 223
Leather & hide tanning and
finishing
2 3.4 1.7 68 34
Lime & gypsum products 1 10.0 10.0 63 63
Total 371 45,202.9 121.8 115,910 312
Source: fDi Intelligence from The Financial Times Ltd
To capture only those FDI projects that fits with the purpose of this study only manufacturing
and research & development-related FDI projects are selected. Manufacturing projects
generated a total of 115,677 jobs and USD 45.1 billion in investment. There are only 4 R&D
related FDI projects recorded, adding 233 jobs and 117 million in capital investment (see Table
20).
Table 20 Agricultural FDI Trends by Business Activities in the COMCEC Region
Business activity
No of
projects
Jobs Created Capital investment
Total Average
Total (USD
m)
Average
(USD m)
Manufacturing 367 115,677 315 45,085.10 122.80
Research & Development 4 233 58 117.80 29.40
Total 371 115,910 312 45,202.90 121.80
Source: fDi Intelligence from The Financial Times Ltd
3.2 Agricultural FDI in Countries with Different Stages of Development
To further nuance the dynamics of attracting FDI in the agricultural sector in the COMCEC
Region, the study assesses the level of development of the COMCEC Member Countries and links
these stages to different types of FDI. In figure 20 three different stages of development have
been identified. Stage I refers to the COMCEC Member Countries that are depending on imports
to supplement their domestic production stock. In the next stage, COMCEC Member Countries
have managed to become self-sustainable and initiated an import-substituting industry,
reducing the dependency on imports and improving the balance of payments. In the third stage,
COMCEC Member Countries have become, or have some potential to become, world market
leaders, including all the spill-over effects, supplying industries and services.