As foreign investors descend on Africa to develop large-scale palm oil plantations, the survival of local people is being threatened as they lose control of the land and water on which they depend for their food production and livelihoods
Adecoagro SA, the South American farm venture backed by billionaire George Soros, pulled out of a project to build a dam and grow rice in Argentina after the government said the development may harm the environment.
Video of the panel on land grabbing featuring the Anuak Survival Organisation, FIAN and the Transnational Institute.
This 2011 trapca Trade Conference will be held in Arusha, Tanzania, on 24-25 November 2011
New research accuses the World Bank Group's policies of facilitating land grabs in Africa and favouring the interests of financial markets over food security and environmental protection.
Land and water grabs spell disaster for rural people and rivers
"We found little evidence that such large-scale acquisitions have helped to provide food and jobs to the local population. More than three quarters of the deals are yet to demonstrate improvements in agricultural output," says the chair of a UN high-level panel of experts on land tenure and international investment in agriculture
Agrifirma, a private investment company backed by financier Lord Rothschild, transferred around half of its assets to a new joint venture with Brazilian private equity firm BRZ Investimentos.
The world's largest commodities trader Glencore International AG is evaluating a bid for KS Oils, a leading Indian edible oil firm that has recently been acquiring farmland in Indonesia
It's become known as the global land grab. More and more wealthy countries are buying up agricultural land in the developing world in at attempt to hedge against high food prices.
Foreign investment is being sought to develop projects on 5 million hectares of land that has been identified for sugar production.
"The desire of foreign monopoly capitalists in the US to acquire lands in PH is an open book. It is not a best kept secret. The monopolists in the US also want 100 percent ownership of other profitable sectors in the Philippines including but not limited to mining, eco-tourism, energy, public utilities, mass media, oil and gas, health and education."