I remember the push from China into Africa about 20 years ago when they were sending teachers and doctors by the thousands to various areas, while they surveyed the land. They rightly predicted that pretty soon, they themselves would have to outsource production and in order to do that, they need an adequately educated and healthy workforce. They don't necessarily need them informed.
Perhaps one day, there will be a solution that can be developed and provided without state involvement.
Its even worse than what you say. Much of the fertile land is bought by Chinese, and worked on by Chinese, and the food goes straight to China. The locals can view all of this through fences build around these Chinese farms. Some of these farms are having a hotel to accomodate the relatives of the workers when coming for vacation. The government officials say: Chinese are good for us, they bring infrastructure to our countries. But in the end the Chinese are doing the same the Europeans did for a few 100s of years; Robing the continent empty for own profits. Ok, this now sounds a bit black/white, but this is kinda what happens in many African countries at the moment.
I can believe it. I would say that other countries than China are also doing the same or are involved, just not able to go to the same scale of operations.