FAO finalizes negotiations on land tenure, access issues

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has finalized negotiations guidelines for responsible governance of land tenure and access rights.

The proposed set of voluntary global guidelines as revealed to NaijaAgroNet in a press release made available by FAO also covers issues of fisheries and forest resources and the guidelines are set for approval from the Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

In a reaction to the proposed guidelines, the chairman of CFS, Yaya Olaniran said the guidelines will be voluntary once approved as they have been drawn up in such a comprehensive and inclusive process.

"In fact, we're already seeing governments moving to bring their policies and practices into alignment with the guidelines," he said.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the approval of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security which was developed over the past three years will be at a special session in Rome by mid-May.

Equally commenting, José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General congratulated the participants of the negotiations as it is a milestone achievement.

"The Voluntary Guidelines will play an important part in answering the challenge of ending hunger and assuring food security of every child, woman and man in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way," he said.

It is also gathered that 96 countries including the European Union as an FAO member organization along with nongovernmental groups, civil society organizations, UN agencies and other international organizations, farmers associations and private sector representatives took part in several rounds of talks by an Open Ended Working Group established by CFS to negotiate the text of the guidelines. 

The last and final round of negotiations was held March 5 to 9 at FAO's Rome headquarters.

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Make earth suitable for human - Ward urges

"We have to combine our immediate commitment to meeting human needs with our longer term need to protect the earth as a place suitable for human life now and in the future" according to the Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres.

Madam Executive Secretary made this quote in honour of late Barbara Mary Ward, an economist on issues of the protection of the earth, at the 2012 Barbara Ward Lecture last weekend.

She appreciated late Barbara Ward for stressing the need to simultaneously address the inner limits of human requirements and the outer limits of what the earth could sustain.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that Christiana in her speech made known that the RIO+20 conference, a medium that allows the world to take stock of past efforts is fast approaching, hence, she stressed the need to do away with "business-as-usual" in order to make the ground shake now more than ever before.

"With billions of people still in abject poverty and with environmental depletion and greenhouse emissions at an all time high, one cannot help but conclude that this was not what Barbara Ward had in mind," she said.

She also affirmed that climate change has the potential to undo many of the development gains that have been made, including in the context of the Millennium Development Goals.

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Investments interest in agriculture on the rise - IIED

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) had said that investments fund in agriculture shows a growing interest.

This was made known in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, stating that lands and agribusinesses are on the global rush for investment.

Reasons for the increase in land investment as revealed by IIED could be linked to high long-term returns attributable to rising land prices, growing populations and increasing demand for food.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that investments in the agrobusiness sector's sources are mostly financial players like pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and rich individuals.

Experts at IIED noted that an estimated US$14billion, about N2.234trillion in private capital has already been committed to investment in farmland and agricultural infrastructure. While a larger part of the fund is based in Europe and North America, whereas the figure according to analysts is expected to be doubled or tripled by 2015.

The potential for land values in Africa, they pointed out is much greater where farmland prices are comparatively low.

Returns on investment, as said by them is largely dependent on the prices of agricultural commodities which is the major reason some investors go for land with high yield potential, investing further in agricultural productivity in order to increase their annual returns.

Further, the fund structures in developing countries are reported to be on the increase, especially as they are being used to invest in agriculture, the investors are also being driven by the high expectation of returns which can be linked to rising land values and productivity.

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Study warns large land deals impoverishes the poor

The latest study released by the International Land Coalition (ILC) has warned that large land deals is known to have consistently threatened the poor further, according to the Secretariat Director, Dr Madiodio Niasse.

The International Land Coalition membership includes United Nations (UN) agencies, International Financial Institutions, research institutes, and civil society and farmers’ organisations.

He said that the study outlined some key failures of governance which harm the rural poor in developing nations including the fact that national elites play a much larger role in land acquisitions than has been noted to date by media reports that have focused on foreign investors.

Equally, he noted that food was not the main focus of the land deals following revelations that out of the 71 million hectares in deals that the study could cross-reference, 22 per cent was for mining, tourism, industry and forestry and three-quarters of the remaining 78 per cent for agricultural production was for biofuels.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the study revealed that while large land deals could create opportunities, they are more likely to cause problems for the poorest members of society, who often lose access to land and resources that are essential to their livelihoods.

The lead author of the study, Ward Anseeuw of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) was quoted as saying that under current conditions, large-scale land deals threaten the rights and livelihoods of poor rural communities and especially women.

The study went on to stated that of large land acquisitions in developing countries to date published online on 14 December by ILC, more evidences of harm than benefits were discovered.

He pointed out that the over 40 organisations collaboration on the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project, which synthesised 28 case studies, thematic studies and regional overviews gave credence to this report.

Remmy Nweke
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