Abstract
Increasingly, developing nations which are land rich are sanctioning the sale or transfer of user rights of large tracts of farmland for foreign investment. While this issue is of relatively recent origin, caused in large measure by the recent global food crisis and related to desires by food importing countries to have greater control over their food supply, the impact on food security could be very significant. Because of the newness of the matter, most of the available evidence is found outside traditional academic literature. Poor, smallholder farmers without formal land titles currently occupy much of the land sold in these transactions, threatening the internal food security of the lessor state. Factors driving the global acquisition of land include development aid shortfalls, the global food crisis, the burgeoning middle class in middle- and high-income nations, and the increasing acceptance of biofuels as a viable alternative source of fuel by governments of these nations. The risks associated with the global acquisition of land on food security of the seller country are manifold. This article reviews the current literature available on the subject and makes policy suggestions for equitable investment and benefit-sharing for all stakeholders. Opportunities and risks abound but if the risks are mitigated, then the global acquisition of land has the potential to be an unparalleled development opportunity for lessor states.
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Notes
“Most of this land is in Latin America and Africa. Many governments have placed their ‘open’ land on the market for foreign land investment. Ethiopia, for instance plans to offer 3 million hectares of land to foreign investors for large-scale commercial farm development. Often, ‘available’ lands are held by indigenous groups who have no formal land tenure rights but have customary claims to the land that are not recognized by the national government of the land-selling country.” (Source: Malone 2009)
There are two conflicting figures on necessary increases in food production yields to satisfy the food requirements of 2050. Please review both sources for further information.
“Biofuels are liquid fuels derived from biomass. They are primarily used for transport or heating and are produced from agricultural products. 90% of global biofuels use is comprised of bioethanol from corn or biodiesel. Biofuels use land similar to that used for growing food commodities to provide nutrition to global populations,” (Cotula et al. 2008, 2009).
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Robertson, B., Pinstrup-Andersen, P. Global land acquisition: neo-colonialism or development opportunity?. Food Sec. 2, 271–283 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-010-0068-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-010-0068-1