Millions Of Hectares Of 3rd-World Farmland Already Owned By Wealthy Nations - More Sales To Come

[hatrack]

ver two-and-half million hectares in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; half a million hectares in Tanzania; and a quarter of a million hectares in Libya: these figures represent just some of the recent international land deals where wealthy countries buy up land in poorer nations for food, and sometimes biofuel, production. The controversial trend has sparked a recent report from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) highlighting what nations have to gain—and lose—from participating in such deals.

Spurred on by the global food crisis, nations in the Middle-east and Asia have begun purchasing agricultural land abroad in order to make-up for a lack of arable land at home. Due to water shortages across the region, Middle-eastern nations like Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia have turned largely to Africa for thousands upon thousands of hectares of land, while massive populations and dwindling land has led India, South Korea, and China to also buy up farmland overseas.

According to IFPRI it was the food crisis, along with “increased pressures on natural resources, water scarcity, export restrictions imposed by major producers when food prices were high, and growing distrust in the functioning of regional and global markets”, which pressed these nations into seeking deals abroad that are unique in history for the size of land purchased or leased.

IFPRI’s report, compiled by director general of IFPRI, Joachim von Braun, and senior research fellow in the Environment and Production Technology Division of IFPRI, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, sees the trend as positive to the extent in which it provides investment, technology, and education to poor nations, many of which have fallen behind in food production compared to industrial nations. The report also lists “the creation of a potentially significant number of farm and off-farm jobs, development of rural infrastructure, and poverty-reducing improvements such as construction of schools and health posts” as possible positive outcomes stemming from such deals.

EDIT

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0525-hance_landbuys.html

[pscot]

1. This could be a risky investment

What one group of kleptokrats sells, the next bunch may nationalize.

[amborin]

2. Smithfield has bought up all Polish & Romanian hog farms, too

ghastly conditions.....

was article in int'l herald tribune about a month ago