Food shortages and rural deprivation exacerbated by World Bank policy, says NGO ahead of land and poverty conference

Leading environmental campaigning organisation Friends of the Earth International and La Via Campesina have released two videos showing how projects financed by World Bank funds have allegedly led to African land grabs.

Plus other recent publications on land grabbing from IIED

"During my research trips in Africa, I came across posters against the land grab deals," Liberti told IPS. "One said: ‘Future generations will damn your graves, because you did not leave them any land.’"

World Bank officials say they will further support the county in the development of staple crop processing zones, while a US company indicates interest in 25,000 ha rice project in Rima irrigation scheme, Sokoto.

While Africa may have celebrated the demise of colonialism, it seems the continent is sliding back to those days, as investors continue to push murky land deals.

Responding to strong demand, asset management firm Land Commodities has plans to launch its first retail farmland fund. The company says it receives around 10 to 20 enquiries from private investors each week.

The decision to approve the sale of NZ dairy farms to a Chinese company has prompted an "Aotearoa is Not for Sale" hikoi, which starts at dawn tomorrow with prayers at Cape Reinga.

Released on the eve of a World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, a new report reveals widespread violations of people’s rights and environmental destruction from a land grab initially funded by the World Bank in Uganda.

The World Bank is playing a leading role in a global land grab, says farmers' movement and its international allies.

The estimate used by the Prime Minister John Key that less than 1 percent of New Zealand farmland is foreign-owned is far below the mark according to an analysis of Overseas Investment Office decisions carried out by CTU Economist, Bill Rosenberg.

Released on the eve of the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty in Washington DC, April 23-26, 2012, two new films reveal widespread violations of people's rights and environmental destruction from land grabbing in Africa.