  Land is also being purchased in order to clear forests and peat-lands for the cultivation of energy feedstocks such as sugar cane and palm oil.
BY J. CHANDLER
IDN-InDepthNews Service
TORONTO (IDN) - They are not just grabbing their farmlands but also snatching away their livelihoods and extinguishing the flicker of hope for a future better than the present and the past. They are multilateral corporations that have lined up with wealthier nations to purchase or lease vast tracts of land in small and big developing countries.
They have grabbed between 14 and 20 million hectares in the last three years, corresponding to the land areas of Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan. Approximately 180 instances of land transactions have been reported since mid-2008, as rich nations attempt to extend their control over food-producing lands and investors attempt to turn a profit in biofuels and soft commodities markets, says a new report by the Oakland Institute.
‘The Great Land Grab’ points out that Qatar, with only 1 percent of its land suitable for farming, has purchased 40,000 hectares in Kenya for crop production and recently acquired holdings in Vietnam and Cambodia for rice production, and in Sudan for oils, wheat, and corn production.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE ), which imports 85 percent of its food, purchased 324,000 hectares of farmland in the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan in June 2008.
Other countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea are also seeking to acquire land as part of a long-term strategy for food security.
China, which aims to increase its rice production from 100,000 tons to 500,000 tons in the next five years, has looked abroad to other Asian and African states, purchasing 101,171 hectares in Zimbabwe in June 2008 and investing 800 million dollars in Mozambique to modernize agriculture for export rice production.
Japan and South Korea, two rich countries whose governments have opted to rely on imports rather than self-sufficiency to feed their people, both source around 60 percent of their food from abroad (over 90 percent in Korea’s case if you exclude rice).
However, in response to the food crisis, in early 2008 the South Korean government announced that it was formulating a national plan to facilitate land acquisitions abroad for Korean food production, with the private sector leading the effort.
The Daewoo Logistics Corporation proposed a land lease in Madagascar of 1.3 million hectares for 6 billion dollars, but the plan fell through in January 2009 due to civil backlash, informs the U.S.-based Oakland Institute.
Daewoo had planned to grow half of South Korea’s corn on land acquired in the Madagascar deal, reducing their dependence (as the world’s third-largest corn buyer) on U.S. and South American imports. Through other deals, however, South Korea has acquired over one million hectares in Sudan, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Argentina.
AGROFUELS
A surging demand for agrofuels (biofuel produced from ethanol and sugarcane, as well as biodiesel) and access to new sources of raw materials for manufacturing goods is also driving land purchases, notes the report.
The demand for agrofuels has increased rapidly over the past several years as oil-dependent countries establish ambitious targets for agrofuel production and for incorporating biodiesel and bioethanol with traditional transport fuels.
For example, the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard aims to increase ethanol use by 3.5 billion gallons between 2005 and 2012, and the 27-nation bloc European Union aims to increase the proportion of biofuels used in land transport to 10 percent by 2020.
With these and other impetuses, the use and production of biofuels has skyrocketed over the past several years, such that the quantity of U.S. corn used to produce ethanol increased by 53 million metric tons between 2002 and 2007. It now accounts for 30 percent of the total global growth in wheat and feed grains use.
THREAT
The widespread phenomenon of land grab backed by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) as well as rich nations is posing a threat to rural economies and livelihoods, land reform agendas, and other efforts aimed at making access to food more equitable and ensuring the human right to food for all., avers the Oakland Institute.
The Oakland Institute is an independent policy think tank whose mission is to increase public participation and promote fair debate on critical social, economic, and environmental issues.
‘The Great Land Grab’ report points out that the current debate surrounding the land grab phenomenon fails to adequately and rigorously examine the consequences of this trend, and exposes how the huge sell-offs of resources is undermining food security and land reform efforts. The authors implore that we question the assumption that increased investment in agriculture is beneficial for all parties involved.
Shepard Daniel, fellow at the Oakland Institute and lead author of the report, warns: “The history of foreign direct investment in agriculture reveals the plethora of social and economic problems that have plagued local citizens and belies the claims that the current land acquisitions will positively impact the development of poor nations.”
“Throughout history, corporate agribusiness has been known to establish itself in developing countries with the effect of either driving independent farmers off their land or turning farmers into plantation workers.
“No matter how convincing the claim that these massive international acquisitions will bring much-needed agricultural investment to poor countries, evidence shows there is simply no place for the small farmer in the vast majority of these land grab situations that will only increase monoculture-based, export-oriented agriculture, further jeopardizing international food security,” she adds.
Says Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute and co-author of the report: “Our report dismantles the myth of the 'win-win' argument that has been offered to quell concerns around this trend. A myopic focus on potential benefits, such as increased investment in agriculture in poor countries, is sidelining the issue of food security for the world’s poor and land reform from the forefront of the debate.”
“Food security and the implementation of land reform policies are inextricably linked. There are 1.5 billion small-scale farmers in the world who live on less than two hectares of land; secure and equitable access to and control over land allows these farmers to produce food, which is vital for their own food security as well as that of rural populations throughout the developing world,” she points out.
The Great Land Grab critically examines the role of the private sector in agricultural development and exposes implications of private sector control over food resources. The report concludes that those who promote the benefits of private sector growth in agriculture fail to recognize that acquisition of crucial food-producing lands by foreign private entities poses a threat to rural economies and livelihoods, land reform agendas, and other efforts aimed at making access to food more equitable.
CHRONIC HUNGER
“Much press coverage and research has focused on the food security motivations of food import-dependent countries,” notes Daniel. “We forget, however, that the main thrust of investment is coming from the private sector, whose interests do not lie in establishing food security, but rather in making a profit in international food markets.”
An estimated 1.02 billion people -- one sixth of humanity -- suffer from chronic hunger, and, in one of the world's cruelest ironies, 70 percent of this starving population live and work on small-scale farms and in rural areas. To tackle the growing crisis of world hunger, policy makers and agriculture experts will gather at the World Food Summit in November 2009; preparation for the summit is revolving around increased investment in agriculture.
However, as The Great Land Grab points out, there is a dangerous disconnect between increasing agricultural investment through rich countries amassing land in poor countries and the goal of secure and adequate food supplies for poor and vulnerable populations.
While investment in the agricultural sector is vital, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, has wisely cautioned in his submission to the Commission on Sustainable Development that the issue is not one of merely increasing budget allocations to agriculture, but rather, “that of choosing from different models of agricultural development which may have different impacts and benefit various groups differently.” (IDN-InDepthNews /22.10.09)
Copyright © 2009 IDN-InDepthNews Service
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External link:
Oakland Institute:
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org
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