farmlandgrab.org

A new report reveals land inequality is worse than we thought and is fuelling other inequalities

Global inequality experts blame the upward trend of land inequality partly on the increased interest from corporate and financial actors, such as investment funds, in agricultural land investments.
1% of farms operate 70% of world's farmland

Researchers find control over the land has become far more concentrated both directly through ownership and indirectly through contract farming, which results in more destructive monocultures and fewer carefully tended smallholdings.
If TIAA’s Roger Ferguson wants to be Treasury Secretary, he should fix his farmland problem

TIAA is unusual among financial firms for its aggressive pursuit of farmland, paving the way for financial wealth controlled by companies and individuals to takeover and dispossess rural communities of their farmland.
Ferguson, up for Treasury Secretary, leaves a legacy of misleading claims to social responsibility

New report reveals finance firm TIAA initiated unprecedented global farmland investments under CEO Roger Ferguson Jr., while undermining human rights standards.
Elusive Investors keep buying and selling – People remain and suffer

The struggles continue for the communities displaced by the Addax Bioenergy project in Sierra Leone and their situation is getting worse as the lands are handed over from one company to the next.
Projet agro-industriel de campo : Camvert et les populations toujours à couteaux tirés

D’un coût de 237 milliards de FCFA, le projet d’exploitation de 60 000 hectares de terres, continue de rencontrer l’opposition des organisations de protection de l’environnement et des populations.
Faculty request transparency and sustainability for TIAA farmland investments

University of Iowa faculty members write that major collegiate employee retirement savings manager must divest from socially irresponsible farming pension fund investments and be transparent in doing so.
Uganda: Buvuma residents land cleared for oil palm growing before compensation

Oil palm growing in Buvuma district has faced slow progress due to irregularities raised by residents including delayed compensations and underpayments that discouraged Bidco Uganda to occupy its nucleus estate.
L'UEMOA signe avec le Mali un contrat de bail avec l'ON

Le projet régional de mise en valeur des terres (11 288 ha) de l'Office du Niger dans le cadre de l'UEMOA entre dans une nouvelle phase tout en restant fidèle à son objectif initial de contribution à la sécurité alimentaire et de renforcement de l'intégration régionale.
The enduring legacy of a little-known World Bank project to secure African plantations for European billionaires

A search through the World Bank's archives shines a light on why Africa's post-colonial governments failed to dismantle the plantation model and return lands to their people.

Chilean investors mull multimillion-dollar ‘agri’ investment

Although discussions are still in the preliminary stages, CEO of Go-Invest, Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, said the Chileans want to invest heavily in large-scale agricultural projects.

24 Nov 2020 Guyana Chronicle

A new report reveals land inequality is worse than we thought and is fuelling other inequalities

Global inequality experts blame the upward trend of land inequality partly on the increased interest from corporate and financial actors, such as investment funds, in agricultural land investments.

24 Nov 2020 ILC

1% of farms operate 70% of world's farmland

Researchers find control over the land has become far more concentrated both directly through ownership and indirectly through contract farming, which results in more destructive monocultures and fewer carefully tended smallholdings.

24 Nov 2020 Guardian

Bruxelles va acheter des terres agricoles dans les deux Brabants : la Région wallonne réagit

La Région bruxelloise va acheter, "dans les mois et les années à venir", des terres agricoles dans les Brabants wallon et flamand afin de préserver la biodiversité et de favoriser une agriculture locale qui pourrait nourrir une partie de la population bruxelloise

23 Nov 2020 RTBF

If TIAA’s Roger Ferguson wants to be Treasury Secretary, he should fix his farmland problem

TIAA is unusual among financial firms for its aggressive pursuit of farmland, paving the way for financial wealth controlled by companies and individuals to takeover and dispossess rural communities of their farmland.

20 Nov 2020 NFFC, NAMA, ActionAid

Ferguson, up for Treasury Secretary, leaves a legacy of misleading claims to social responsibility

New report reveals finance firm TIAA initiated unprecedented global farmland investments under CEO Roger Ferguson Jr., while undermining human rights standards.

20 Nov 2020 ActionAid & FOE

Elusive Investors keep buying and selling – People remain and suffer

The struggles continue for the communities displaced by the Addax Bioenergy project in Sierra Leone and their situation is getting worse as the lands are handed over from one company to the next.

20 Nov 2020 BFA

RDC : l’accaparement des terres par PHC Boteka affecte près de dix-sept villages dans la province de l’Equateur

Menacées par l’insécurité alimentaire de suite du manque des terres, les communautés ne savent plus à quel saint se vouer.

19 Nov 2020 Desknature.com

Projet agro-industriel de campo : Camvert et les populations toujours à couteaux tirés

D’un coût de 237 milliards de FCFA, le projet d’exploitation de 60 000 hectares de terres, continue de rencontrer l’opposition des organisations de protection de l’environnement et des populations.

19 Nov 2020 Ecomatin

New Eur100m fund launched targeting sustainable ag and forestry in the Baltic and CEE regions

The fund’s initial offering has raised EUR32.45 million to-date from private investors to back sustainably-managed agricultural land and forests in the Baltic Sea region and Central and Eastern Europe.

18 Nov 2020 GAI

Nigeria: Edo gives 40,000 hectares to firms for oil palm

The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has approved the allocation of over 40,000 hectares of land to six firms for oil palm cultivation.

18 Nov 2020 Punch

Faculty request transparency and sustainability for TIAA farmland investments

University of Iowa faculty members write that major collegiate employee retirement savings manager must divest from socially irresponsible farming pension fund investments and be transparent in doing so.

18 Nov 2020 Daily Iowan

Food estate program in protected forests may lead to 'massive deforestation' in Indonesia

The latest regulation issued by the Environment and Forestry Ministry that allows forests to be converted into farmland to support the government’s food estate program has sparked concerns of potential massive deforestation, according to the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).

17 Nov 2020 Jakarta Post

Time for Mitr Phol, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Mars Wrigley and Bonsucro to live up to their human rights responsibilities

Inclusive Development International, Equitable Cambodia and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) issue a joint statement to the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights highlights a decade-long struggle by displaced Cambodian communities against Asia’s largest sugar company Mitr Pohl

17 Nov 2020 IDI

Uganda: Buvuma residents land cleared for oil palm growing before compensation

Oil palm growing in Buvuma district has faced slow progress due to irregularities raised by residents including delayed compensations and underpayments that discouraged Bidco Uganda to occupy its nucleus estate.

17 Nov 2020 The Independent

Vulture funds renew efforts to take possession of indebted farms

In Ireland, vulture funds and lenders are following a more aggressive strategy since the end of Covid-19 moratorium on forced sales

17 Nov 2020 Independent

L'UEMOA signe avec le Mali un contrat de bail avec l'ON

Le projet régional de mise en valeur des terres (11 288 ha) de l'Office du Niger dans le cadre de l'UEMOA entre dans une nouvelle phase tout en restant fidèle à son objectif initial de contribution à la sécurité alimentaire et de renforcement de l'intégration régionale.

16 Nov 2020 Maliweb

The enduring legacy of a little-known World Bank project to secure African plantations for European billionaires

A search through the World Bank's archives shines a light on why Africa's post-colonial governments failed to dismantle the plantation model and return lands to their people.

15 Nov 2020 WRM/GRAIN

Karuturi stadium swallowed by the lake

"On the other side is Karuturi flower farms - it has also been taken away"

15 Nov 2020 Kenya Citizen TV

European development bank involvement into Congolese palm oil company perpetuates racism of colonial-era land grab

Communities living within the concessions claimed by PHC have long sought to regain control over their lands and have called for negotiations to determine the conditions under which the company may be allowed to continue to operate.

15 Nov 2020 WRM

Diversification critical for pension funds, as NSSA considers agric value chains

Zimbabwe's National Social Security Authority says it will begin to shift some of its investments to agriculture value chains such as maize, wheat, soya and export crops such as macadamia and blue berries.

14 Nov 2020 Zimbabwe Daily

Sierra Leone: MALOA calls for credible, impartial audit of SOCFIN

Malen Affected Land Owners Association (MALOA) say they are dissatisfied with the process of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to certify Socfin Agricultural Company's operation in Malen Chiefdom.

13 Nov 2020 Concord Times

Uganda: The criminal trial of the eight land rights defenders failed to take off

The defenders believe that the charges brought against them are linked to their human rights work of mobilizing and empowering communities in Kiryandongo to resist violent evictions by foreign agribusiness companies.

13 Nov 2020 Witness Radio

The burning scar: Inside the destruction of Asia’s last rainforests

Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of palm oil, and Papua is its newest frontier. A visual investigation suggests fires have been deliberately set on the land by Korean palm oil giant that has been buying up swathes of Asia's largest remaining rainforests for their plantations.

12 Nov 2020 BBC

They should not be called public development banks

As development banks gather for a global summit, organisations condemn the financing of corporate agribusiness and plantations, and call for public investment in agroecology and local food systems to tackle the climate crisis.

12 Nov 2020 Collective statement