Africa: Could regulation ease fears over land grabs?
- IPS
- 23 October 2009
The Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) says these land deals exclude farmers and threaten their livelihoods.
The Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) says these land deals exclude farmers and threaten their livelihoods.
Entretien avec Aboubacar Fall, conseiller juridique de la Banque Africaine du Développement
Interview with Kieran Forde, an Irishman who works in Saudi Arabia for the Tabuk Agriculture Company (TADCO), which will be shifting food production for the Saudi market to Egypt
An audio recording of the panel on global land acquisition, held on 22 October 2009 at the European Development Days 2009 in Stockholm, is available online.
Ernest Corea, a former senior consultant with the Washington-based Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), told IPS the surrender of nationally-owned farm land and land rights to foreign interests - whether individuals, the corporate sector or governments - amounts to an erosion of sovereignty.
Le processus d’expropriation des terres de la Vallée, en Mauritanie, par des multinationales ne fait que commencer.
The Congolese government said it had signed similar agreements with China, Brazil and Israel.
"The idea is to show that the Arabs may invest in agriculture in Brazil without the need for purchasing land," says Eduardo Sampaio
Black Earth Farming Ltd., which controls an area of Russian farmland four times the size of New York City, plans to start exporting grain and begin forward sales with traders and fertilizer suppliers.
Acheter des terres arables à l'étranger est devenu un investissement stratégique. Va-t-on vers un dépeçage de certains pays pauvres ? Reportage "Paroles du Monde" avec des représentants d'Agter, Le Monde et Agrogénération.
Officials in Ethiopia hope that the investment can help improve agriculture, replacing ox-and-plough with tractors, but some are concerned about whether the deals benefit the lessors.
Japan is leading an international effort to define a new set of 'investor principles' to govern such deals. These efforts are gaining support but will need to involve investors, many of whom are far removed from the donors, global banks and multinational corporations that are used to working with such initiatives.