Land Grab is Accelerating at an Alarming Rate

INTRODUCTION

According to The Guardian, the acquisition of farmland from the world’s poor by rich countries and international corporations is accelerating at an alarming rate, with an area half the size of Europe’s farmland targeted in just six months. New reports from the UN and analysts in India, Washington and London estimate that at least 30m hectares are being acquired to grow food for countries such as China and the Gulf states which cannot produce enough for their populations. The land grab trend is accelerating and could severely impair the ability of poor countries to feed themselves.

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Quoted by the English newspaper, Olivier De Schutter, special envoy for food at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: “All countries observe each other and when one sees others buying land, it does the same.” The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and other analysts estimate that nearly 20m hectares (50m acres) of farmland have been sold or have been negotiated for sale or lease in six months. Around 10m hectares were bought last year. The land grab is being blamed on wealthy countries with concerns about food security.

Environment editor, John Vidal, remembers what the article’s author said: Some of the largest deals include South Korea’s acquisition of 700,000 ha. in Sudan, and Saudi Arabia’s purchase of 500,000 ha. in Tanzania; the Democratic Republic of the Congo expects to shortly conclude an 8m-hectare deal with a group of South African businesses to grow maize and soya beans as well as poultry and dairy farming; India has lent money to 80 companies to buy 350,000 ha. in Africa; at least six countries are known to have bought large landholdings in Sudan, one of the least food-secure countries in the world.

Quoted by The Guardian, Devinder Sharma, an analyst with the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security in India, predicted civil unrest. “Outsourcing food production will ensure food security for investing countries but would leave behind a trail of hunger, starvation and food scarcities for local populations,” he said. “The environmental tab of highly-intensive farming – devastated soils, dry aquifer, and ruined ecology from chemical infestation – will be left for the host country to pick up.” According to a US-based think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute, nearly $20B to $30B a year are being spent by rich countries on land in developing countries.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, known already as a land-leasing hotspot, a coco deal with a Japan’s corporation started in Ilocos. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the project for biofuel production will affect at least 600,000 hectares of public, non-disposable land in northern Luzon. The plantation area could be expanded to other villages in Pagudpud to the northern town of Adams and the neighboring province of Cagayan, reports Cristina Arzadon.

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