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Sunday, December 18, 2011

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
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology

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