FAO

The bad publicity farmland acquisitions generated is putting off buyers, especially short-term investors, UN food and farm agencies experts said at an international food security forum.

Multinational food companies have come under fire for buying up farmland in developing countries by activists holding a forum in parallel to the UN Hunger Summit.

Plusieurs ONG ont accusé les multinationales de l'alimentaire de chercher à s'emparer de millions d'hectares de terres de bonne qualité appartenant aux petits paysans du tiers monde, lors du sommet de la FAO sur la sécurité alimentaire à Rome.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi calls it the “new feudalism.” Groups representing peasant farmers call it “land grabs.” The United Nations literature dispersed at this week's UN food summit in Rome calls it “direct foreign investment.”

A strong set of guidelines for land acquisitions abroad could take years, but is necessary for protecting the interests of small farmers, political leaders said.

World farmers are not part of the official delegations at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food summit on food security that opened here Monday. But they came anyhow to express their views, since, they say, it is their communities that are most impacted by the food crisis.

The private sector can play a key role in the fight against hunger, but humanitarian groups accuse multi-nationals of mounting an "offensive" to take over the agricultural sector in the developing world.

Del 13 al 17 de noviembre de 2009, representantes de organizaciones campesinas y movimientos sociales que han participado directamente en la lucha contra esta nueva ola de apropiación global de tierras, confluirán en Roma.

Du 13 au 17 novembre 2009, des représentants des organisations paysannes et des mouvements sociaux qui sont directement impliqués dans les luttes contre cette nouvelle vague d’accaparement des terres seront à Rome.

From 13-17 November 2009, representatives from peasant organisations and social movements that have been directly involved in struggles against this new wave of global land grabbing will be in Rome.

Issue paper by FAO for the World Summit on Food Security, Rome, 16-18 November 2009

More than 50 heads of state will gather for a summit later this month to look at ways of policing the extraordinary "land grab" that has seen richer countries buy up at least 20m ha of farmland in Africa in the last 18 months.