“Uncertainty around food and fuel supply globally has sparked investor interest in the acquisition of large parcels of productive land around the world, for commercial production or long-term investment, writes Nidhi Tandon. But these developments, which effectively take land away from local farmers and in many cases perpetuate ‘environmentally damaging farming methods’, threaten to have ‘serious negative impacts for small farmers, in particular women, who have no say in the political and trade decisions around their lands,’ Tandon warns.
This paper examines three issues
- What is attracting investors and market speculators into the farm and land sectors;
- What is at stake for small farmers – and especially women farmers - and long term impacts for food production and food security; and
- What action is needed to enable women to secure access to natural resource and land assets for current and future generations?
The multi-fold hike in food and fuel prices in late 2007 came out of the volatility in the financial markets. In the first six months of 2008, mass riots over food shortages and unaffordable prices broke out across the world, from Senegal to Zimbabwe, from Haiti to Mexico, from Bangladesh to Yemen. As a result, economies large and small have become more alert to food security concerns.
Uncertainty around the future of food and fuel supply has propelled investors to invest in land. A growing number of investors and fund companies are acquiring large parcels of productive land in Africa, Latin America, Central and Southeast Asia for commercial production or long term investment – effectively taking land away from local farmers and in many cases, perpetuating environmentally damaging farming methods. This development threatens to have serious negative impacts for small farmers, in particular women, who have no say in the political and trade decisions around their lands.
‘Agriculture will be the next big booming sector. It will be farmers who will be driving the best cars in the world in the next 20–25 years instead of bankers and analysts’. (Jim Rogers)[2]
‘The sharp recent rise in global commodities prices, particularly in the energy and agricultural sectors, is … threatening the health of many millions in developing countries. There is also no doubt that these price rises have been accompanied by a corresponding rise in interest from institutional investors in commodities as an asset class. The value of commodity index investments has grown by about 1/3 since the beginning of the year, to more than $250 billion’.(Ben Steil, May 20, 2008)[3]
‘We can’t reduce poverty if the majority of the landless can’t afford to buy land.’ (Lumumba Odenda)[4]
A portrait of contradictions? The underlying assumption of the first quote (speculators’ hype) is that farmers will earn the kinds of profits that commodity speculators do. The reality presented in the last quote is that many who depend upon the land do not, and increasingly, cannot, own land. As long as financiers and traders profit from a system that pays out to them, they will continue to be the ones ‘driving the best cars’. With financiers and investors moving into long-term lease or outright purchase of enormous plots of land, peasants and small farmers are joining the ranks of the rural landless in ever-growing numbers. Globalisation impacts local land markets and land use; land transaction costs affect food prices; and the combined effect is particularly damaging to women who produce food and who put food on the table for their families.
This paper examines three issues:
- What is attracting investors and market speculators into the farm and land sectors;
- What is at stake for small farmers – and especially women farmers - and long term impacts for food production and food security; and
- What action is needed to enable women to secure access to natural resource and land assets for current and future generations?”
Read the full paper: http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/64921
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