Ukraine: From breadbasket to breadcrumbs
- Al Jazeera
- 30 April 2022
Advocates of large-scale, intensive industrial agriculture are saying, yet again, that we should ramp up global production to deal with the food crisis. But this is not the solution.
Advocates of large-scale, intensive industrial agriculture are saying, yet again, that we should ramp up global production to deal with the food crisis. But this is not the solution.
Millions of people face being displaced from their homes as new data shows land sales covering an area the size of Germany are now under contract, warns Oxfam.
Duncan Pruett reflects on the last 5 years at work advocating on the issues of land rights and foreign investments in agriculture.
Up to 2.5 billion people depend on indigenous and community lands, which make up over 50 percent of the land on the planet; they legally own just one-fifth. The remaining land remains vulnerable to land grabs from governments and corporations.
Follow up from 2014 Oxfam report "Banking on Shaky Ground – Australia's big four banks and land grabs", asserts that all four banks have failed to ensure the affected communities' rights to food, shelter and a sustainable livelihood were restored.
Almost two years ago Oxfam revealed that Australia’s Big 4 Banks — the ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac — are backing agriculture and timber companies linked to land grabs in developing countries.
Oxfam policy adviser Robin Willoughby shrugs off the big ag groupthink and argues that the current trend of mega projects in African agriculture is a risky and unproven way to help poor farmers.
The need for private sector investment in Africa is manifest, but the quality of those inflows of capital is vital if it is to enhance the livelihoods of millions of food producers in Africa.
ANZ’s cutting of ties to Cambodian sugar company implicated in the use of child labour and causing food shortages after forcing hundreds of families off their land.
Australia’s big four banks are backing companies accused of kicking people off their land, leaving them homeless and hungry.
Australia’s major banks are funding large-scale illegal “land grabs” in the developing world and enabling illegal logging, child labour or other human rights abuses.
In a new report released today, Oxfam analyzes how companies are approaching and developing their agricultural investments in Latin America, how land was acquired, and how small farmers and communities were affected in Paraguay, Guatemala and Colombia.
The Vicuñas and the $9,000 sweater
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