Between the farmers and Olam lies one of Lao’s most powerful, and some allege, corrupt families, the Siphandones.
Indigenous people in Cameroon claim a company is stealing communal land to build a palm oil plantation -- a dispute that could lead to conflict, hunger and human rights abuses.
A global food crisis and rapid population growth are making farmland an increasingly attractive investment. Holly Black looks at the options.
An international coalition of NGOs and research groups has published the world's largest database of land grab deals struck since 2000, offering unprecedented detail on who's investing, where and what for.
- The Guardian
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27 April 2012
Water grabbing refers to situations where powerful actors take control of valuable water resources for their own benefit, depriving local communities whose livelihoods often depend on these resources and ecosystems.
Despite the African Union's commitment to strengthening women's access and control of land by placing land rights in the domain of human rights, it is silent on the issue of land grabs. This is a gap that the AU needs to plug.
- Open Democracy
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10 February 2012
Many of the areas from which people are being moved are slated for leasing by the Ethiopian government for commercial agricultural development, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch.
Oakland Institute speaks about the findings of their latest round of in-depth research into land grabs in Africa.
- Pambazuka
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09 December 2011
The following report, by independent researcher Anna Bolin, explores the global trends and influences at work behind agriculture mega-projects like MIFEE in Papua.
- Down to Earth
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30 November 2011
New book explains the reasons behind the land grab phenomenon and why so many Ethiopians are not only alarmed but also adamantly opposed to it.
- Ethiopian Review
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11 October 2011
The government has not presented satisfactory and truthful explanations about its actions, let alone credible defense of its role as agency and facilitator of the abominable practices of farmland grabbing.
- tramnsformingethiopia
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11 August 2011
Kilombero Plantations Limited chief executive officer Carter Coleman talks about his company's large-scale farming operations in Tanzania, including the removal of the "Project Affected Persons" previously farming the lands.
Government-backed companies, as Hassad Food, have begun buying up farmland around the world, with Australia’s vast tracts of top quality primary production land a prime target.
Internationally-funded Guatemalan palm oil and sugar cane interests evict Mayan Qeqchi families from their historic lands, destroying homes and crops, killing one, injuring more, while thousands are without food or shelter.
- Upside Down World
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23 Mar 2011
Mohd Bakke Salleh, president and group chief executive of Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur earlier today that the group has identified 300,000 hectares (ha) of land in Cameroon that could be suitable for palm oil plantation.
- BusinessGreen
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25 February 2011
Access to land and security of tenure are essential for the enjoyment of the
right to food.
The seizing of the poor farmers' land is destroying their only hope of survival on earth.
- Modern Ghana
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27 December 2010
News of the deal has aroused very vehement protest from the Sudanese Farmer’s Union and the tenants in the Gezira Scheme.
- Sudan Tribune
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19 December 2010
The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch shows how land grabbing aggravates hunger in Africa, Asia and Latin America by leading to eviction of peasant communities from their main source of livelihood.
- RTFN-Watch
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07 October 2010
GRAIN says the World Bank's much anticipated report on the global farmland grab is both a disappointment and a failure.
It is not too late for equitable partnerships to flourish between foreign investors and local communities.
Australia's opposition leader Tony Abbott said his Liberal-National coalition of center-right parties could revise the country's foreign investment laws if it wins power in the Aug. 21 general election.
A group of food security advocates wants a Philippine government-led corporation that identifies new land suitable for local and foreign agricultural businesses abolished.
Africa's untapped agriculture potential make it an ideal partner for resource-constrained Middle Eastern countries that seek to improve their food security, a new report from Standard Chartered Bank said.
- Trade Arabia
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22 July 2010
Anthony "Chocfinger" Ward, the commodities trader whose group Armajaro Holdings has just cornered the cocoa market, is planning his next move into food.
A farmland development group backed by Jacob Rothschild is to become the first Brazilian company to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange
- Financial Times
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18 July 2010
Evidence suggests a marked disparity in the benefits received by those involved in and affected by these transnational land acquisitions, particularly for those originally dwelling on the land.
- Brookings Institution
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25 June 2010
Outline of major Ukraine companies open to farmland investors
World Bank's MIGA provides political risk insurance for Chayton Capital's $50 million farmland investments in southern Africa.
An economic analysis of land grabbing in 25 countries by a French securities firm. Predicts the entry of Danone, Nestlé and Unilever into the fray.
- ODDO Securities
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30 May 2010