Governments often justify these deals by citing their potential contribution to economic growth – however, any gains risk being greatly outweighed by negative impacts on local livelihoods, say WRI

"The farmland that we are transferring to foreign investors is not the land that is being used by the locals," asserts Yaregal Aysheshum, former president of the Benshangul Gumuz Regional State in Ethiopia

Trying to compensate for the absence of legitimacy of these massive land deals by getting investors to adhere to a few principles is deceitful.

This study is conducted in order to shed light on and investigate the welfare situation for people affected by farmland investments. It deals with three cases in the Oromia region: Castel Winery, Elfora Agro-Industries PLC and Sher Ethiopia PLC

"Only 12% of [the land investors have acquired in Africa in the last few years] is actually being farmed," Oxfam Senegal's Head of Economic Justice Lamine Ndiaye says. "The other 88% is just sitting there. It's just for speculation. You buy it, and three years later, you sell it at a higher price."

It is shameful that the Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK would claim that the areas targeted for foreign investment have no adequate social and economic infrastructures such as education, health facilities and roads.

New research presented at a major conference on global land grabbing, being held at IDS, reveals that the true extent of deals being struck for land in Africa is far greater than reported.

Several Indian companies have planned huge investments in the African mining and agriculture sectors, buoyed by the prospects of high returns, on the back of rich resources and low labour and input costs, stakeholders maintain.

Foreign investments help Ethiopia to develop, and provide knowledge, skills and taxes, says Ethiopia's Ambassador to the UK.

Some claim it’s for food security, some say it’s a land grab

Vast tracts of farmland in poor nations being gobbled up by foreign investors could undermine small farmers' rights and food security in the host countries

Ethiopia is on sale. Everybody is getting a piece of her. For next to nothing. The land vultures have been swooping down on Gambella from all parts of the world.

Higher land prices are here to stay; an additional inflationary tailwind for the already rising cost of food.

Goverment of Ethiopia webpage on land lease contracts (in Amharic)

A land grab is taking place all across Africa, a transfer of control unprecedented in the post-colonial era.

Foreign investors are leasing vast tracts of land in Ethiopia

One of the problems with so-called ‘land grabs’ is secrecy. Most of the contracts that seal such deals are hidden from public scrutiny, which makes it very hard to establish what is really going on.

The company leased 10,000 hectares in Ethiopia’s western Gambella region for 60 years for $9.42 per hectare annually and plans to lease an additional 290,000 hectares from the government.

The Arab unrest has only doubled the efforts of Gulf countries to secure food production by buying farmland around the world, as they try to buffer themselves from the economic issues that have destabilized the region.

Locals move out as international contractors seize opportunities offered by government to lease farmland at knockdown rates

What happens when you are forced to leave the land that has fed your family for generations? What is the impact of wealthy foreigners having access to the best agricultural land in a very poor country? These questions addressed in new Guardian film.

Contract template that was given to the Oakland Institute research team in Benishangul

English translation of a contract template (original in Amharic) that was given to the Oakland Institute research team in Benishangul

Gulf states are following in the footsteps of China and looking beyond their shores to make heavy investments in agriculture

Karuturi's 15 John Deere tractors plough 500 hectares a day on its 300,000 land concession in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. This is land clearance on a gigantic scale.

I urge the Government to stop conceding to foreigners the natural resources and the national reserves of the peoples of Ethiopia, and to begin helping Ethiopian farmers preserve and farm their lands organically.

Principles for responsible agriculture investment are stock templates, designed to deflect the fallout from a growing number of media reports of land deals between investors and governments.

Indore-based Ruchi Group plans to grow oil palm in Cambodia on 20,000 ha.

Local food companies are not financially capable of investing in farmlands abroad to grow basic staples that would insulate them from soaring prices of raw materials, they said on the sidelines of Gulfood 2011.

Modern machineries of all sorts, owned and run by agri-companies, are turning the soils inside out, destroying forests and beginning to pollute the environment to get more production.