IFPRI

The African Development Bank is nevertheless accelerating a push for projects such as the failed 80,000 hectare Bukanga Lonzo project in the DRC, for which it provided about $1 million to finance a feasibility study.

Growing scarcity and degradation of farmland, rapidly rising incomes, and changing consumption patterns have all contributed to an increasing number of international land investments or land deals.

"Africa will be more food insecure if these investments go to other parts of the world and Africa has to turn to those places to buy food," according to Dr Ousmane Badiane of IFPRI

Emission de RFI avec Ibrahima Coulibaly, président de la Coordination Nationale des Organisations Paysannes du Mali et membre du comité de coordination internationale de La Via Campesina, Ousmane Badiane, directeur pour l’Afrique à IFPRI et Mathieu Boche, doctorant au CIRAD, spécialisé sur les questions de propriété foncière.

Une approche tenant compte de l’égalité des sexes est essentielle si l’on veut vraiment comprendre l’impact des transactions foncières, estiment des chercheurs de l'IFPRI

Affected rural poor communities and their allies are not likely to simply accept the land grabbing process in the way the World Bank and its supporters might suppose.

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Ruth Meinzen-Dick, a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, about the downside of land deals between countries.

Evidence suggests a marked disparity in the benefits received by those involved in and affected by these transnational land acquisitions, particularly for those originally dwelling on the land.

ILC is actually trying to promote some sort of dialogue between the different proposals for principles for responsible farmland investment

And now the bad news. FAO has taken a U-turn in its clear position on the race by food-importing countries and private companies to buy land overseas for domestic food and agriculture needs.

“Governments are sitting on a box of dynamite,” Namanga Ngoni, president of AGRA, initiated by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, told the media.

An internal document recently posted on IRRI's website reveals that the Institute has been advising Saudi Arabia in the context of its strategy to acquire farm land overseas for its own food production.