The Land Rush Doesn't Have to End in a Poor Deal for Africans

by Katie Allen (The Guardian) It is not too late for equitable partnerships to flourish between foreign investors and local communities

...Sadly for anyone who happens to live on that farmland there are countless examples of governments handing it over at bargain prices to foreign investors, ranging from hedge funds to biofuel producers.

...But proponents, including some at the World Bank, see overseas investment in foreign farmland, particularly in Africa, as a way to modernise agriculture there, bringing more food and profits to the local population.

One of the difficulties in assessing the impact of the land grab is that many of the transactions are opaque and the extent of investment unclear... Investors range from Gulf states dependent on food imports to Indian farming companies and European-based biofuel producers. Targets include Sudan, Tanzania, famine-prone Ethiopia and Madagascar.

...A leaked draft (of a World Bank report) suggested that so far, wealthy investors have largely threatened local resources and exploitatively targeted countries with lax laws and low charges.

It is hardly the ideal outcome supporters of land deals have in mind: that the investor makes financial or food-security gains, while the recipient gets local jobs, higher yields and some share in the profits and crops. READ MORE