Understanding Emerging Security Challenges: Threats and Opportunities by Ashok Swain

Author:Ashok Swain [Swain, Ashok]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Military, Peace, Political Science, History, General
ISBN: 9780415523301
Google: YnuW1CTRnkMC
Goodreads: 13711833
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-07-23T00:00:00+00:00

Land Grabbing: A New Challenge to Global Food Security

In developing nations around the world, millions of ha of farmland are being purchased or leased by foreign investors. These agreements are predominately found in Africa but are also present in Latin America and Central and South East Asia, and are posing significant risks to local populations’ food security. The purchases come in part as a response to the recent world food crisis, but also to satisfy the need for land to produce the necessary components of biofuels. Especially for larger European nations, the rising biofuel consumption necessitates the acquisition of land outside their own borders. Foreign governments make up only a portion of those acquiring land, however, most of the private investors receive support from their respective governments in some form (Cotula et al. 2009; Von Braun & Meinzen-Dick 2009). The scope of these leases and purchases is difficult to quantify, and there are no reliable figures of how much land is being purchased or leased through land grabs.

A 2011 World Bank report referred to the 45 million ha acquired in 2009 as a positive investment opportunity for African nations (Deininger & Byerlee 2010). However, many organizations have decried such investments as being the opposite of positive for many Africans, some going so far as to label the practice as a form of neo-colonialism (Pagano 2009). Much of the acquired land was already in use by locals. The acquisition of the land removes the main source of livelihood for many local people, causing instability for these groups, including their food security. Further, the land that is being purchased or leased is usually the high-value land, including that which is close to markets or has irrigation potential (Cotula et al. 2009). These factors contribute significantly to the food insecurity of many Africans.

While the so-called land grabbing takes place in Asia and Latin America, the bulk of the land acquired is located in Africa. In fact, between 2004 and 2009 nearly 2.5 million ha of land were acquired in just five African states: Ghana, Mali, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Madagascar (Cotula et al. 2009). A recent deal in Madagascar fell through when mass protest broke out (Sharma 2008). Daewoo, a large South Korean corporation attempted one of the largest land deals, planning to acquire nearly 530,000 ha in Madagascar in an attempt to boost production of palm oil and corn. However, public anger eventually ended the deal that would have leased the land to the South Korean company for 99 years. The deal is also considered to have contributed to the ousting of the president of Madagascar in 2009 (Pagano 2009). In 2009, the new president of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina cancelled the deal with the South Korean corporation unilaterally.

The human security aspect of land grabbing includes lack of necessary food for the local population, environmental degradation due to the change of vegetation, eviction of local residents from the acquired land. Land grabbing in the developing world is not a new phenomenon. In the past,

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