The government of Zimbabwe held talks this week in Harare for an agricultural agreement with China that could see vast tracts of land being ceded to the fast-growing nation, according to ZimOnline. Mugabe’s ministry of finance will guarantee the deal, envisaged to boost agricultural production. The deal will be in two phases. The first component is a direct government-to-government agreement while the other has an element of private sector participation. Government is expected to enlist private sector participation under the Zimbabwe Development Company (ZDC), represented by Zimbabwe Farmers Union vice-president Edward Raradza. The government-owned China State Farms Agribusiness Corporation and the ZDC aim to revive several derelict former white farms that were taken over by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority. The loss-making quasi-government agricultural arm acquired about 20 estates during the land reform programme. Among the expropriated estates where joint ventures are expected to be undertaken are Kondozi Farm, now lying derelict in the Odzi area of Manicaland, Foyle Estate in the rich Mazowe valley, Charter Estate in the Beatrice area, Greaslee in the Goromonzi district, Charleswood Estate, taken from former MDC MP Roy Bennett in Chimanimani, Bosbury and Essex in Mashonaland West.