International investors continue to cast their sights on farmlands, especially the best ones, in the African continent. These arable lands constitute the livelihood of local people who are likely to lose access, but African governments pay little attention to them. This phenomenon was analyzed in detail for the first time by experts from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in collaboration with two United Nations agencies, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The summit report, published Monday 25 May, asserts that the world should learn how to take better account of their interests in transactions, as well as to act in consultation with rural people who are almost always the threatened sector.
It highlights the lack of transparency in decision-making and investment channels. As prevalent in Africa, land is state property that farmers only have a right to use.
The lack of dialogue is a problem, according to Jean-Philippe Audinet, director of the division policies of IFAD which demands the free and informed consent of the people when it comes to natural resources. He regrets to note that governments prefer ‘business development.’
The report confirms the increase in transactions on a large scale. In five years, investors have rushed to buy millions of hectares in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Madagascar, and Sudan. Some examples are: ‘Saudi Arabia has invested $100 million for an Ethiopian farm where they hope to grow wheat and barley, adding to the millions of acres they already own in the war-ravaged country, as well as in neighboring Sudan. China, on the other hand, owns vast tracts of overseas land, mainly in Algeria and Zimbabwe, and one estimate suggests that more than a million ethnic Chinese farm workers will be living on the continent this year. Kenya and Tanzania have leased land while the Ugandans have been big sellers, allocating two million acres of land to Egypt for wheat and corn.’
Via FAO
