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The Great African Land Grab?
Over the past few years, large-scale land acquisitions in Africa have stoked controversy, making headlines in media reports across the world. Land that only a short time ago seemed of little outside interest is now being sought by international investors to the tune of hundreds of thousands of hectares. Private-sector expectations of higher world food and commodity prices and government concerns about longer-term national food and energy security have both made land a more attractive asset.
Dubbed 'land grabs' in the media, large-scale land acquisitions have become one of the most talked about and contentious topics amongst those studying, working in or writing about Africa. Some commentators have welcomed this trend as a bearer of new livelihood opportunities. Others have countered by pointing to negative social impacts, including loss of local land rights, threats to local food security and the risk that large-scale investments may marginalize family farming.
Lorenzo Cotula, a leading expert in the field, casts a critical eye over the most reliable evidence on this hotly contested topic, examining the implications of land deals in Africa both for its people and for world agriculture and food security.
Dubbed 'land grabs' in the media, large-scale land acquisitions have become one of the most talked about and contentious topics amongst those studying, working in or writing about Africa. Some commentators have welcomed this trend as a bearer of new livelihood opportunities. Others have countered by pointing to negative social impacts, including loss of local land rights, threats to local food security and the risk that large-scale investments may marginalize family farming.
Lorenzo Cotula, a leading expert in the field, casts a critical eye over the most reliable evidence on this hotly contested topic, examining the implications of land deals in Africa both for its people and for world agriculture and food security.
- GenresHistoryAfricaNonfiction
248 pages, Paperback
First published July 11, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 13, 2014
Good overview of key issues surrounding land policy in Sub-Saharan Africa. It occupies a useful middle ground between academic writing and writing for the general public. My main disappointment is that there is not enough evidence to draw strong conclusions, which is not fault of the author.
Three takeaways:
1 - Land grabbing is not new, is rarely international, and it is probably overblown. First, its been going on since colonialism. Second, an overwhelming percentage is land acquisition by local political and economic elites. Third, most datasets on international land grabbing rely on media accounts, which are horrifically inaccurate and do not report on cancelled land deals.
2 - Still, land grabbing in its current form is still probably bad. First, its based on a false premise that lots of African land is unoccupied, when it actually being used for hard-to-measure purposes (pastoralism etc). Second, it is not premised on stable ownership rights by current land owners - most land is "owned" by the state, which grants insecure usage rights (and all-too-often revokes them). Third, it occurs through poor and opaque institutions (judicial system, traditional authorities) that tend to favor the wealthy, connected, and international. Finally, there is just really no good empirical evidence that large scale agriculture is benefiting directly-affected communities (almost certainly hurts them) or the citizenry generally (ambiguous evidence).
That said, it seems like there is a pretty strong historical case that displacement of people from small-scale farming is inevitable.
3 - Solution is about improving governance, land rights, and capacity of current land holders, rather than demonizing land acquisition generally.
Three takeaways:
1 - Land grabbing is not new, is rarely international, and it is probably overblown. First, its been going on since colonialism. Second, an overwhelming percentage is land acquisition by local political and economic elites. Third, most datasets on international land grabbing rely on media accounts, which are horrifically inaccurate and do not report on cancelled land deals.
2 - Still, land grabbing in its current form is still probably bad. First, its based on a false premise that lots of African land is unoccupied, when it actually being used for hard-to-measure purposes (pastoralism etc). Second, it is not premised on stable ownership rights by current land owners - most land is "owned" by the state, which grants insecure usage rights (and all-too-often revokes them). Third, it occurs through poor and opaque institutions (judicial system, traditional authorities) that tend to favor the wealthy, connected, and international. Finally, there is just really no good empirical evidence that large scale agriculture is benefiting directly-affected communities (almost certainly hurts them) or the citizenry generally (ambiguous evidence).
That said, it seems like there is a pretty strong historical case that displacement of people from small-scale farming is inevitable.
3 - Solution is about improving governance, land rights, and capacity of current land holders, rather than demonizing land acquisition generally.
March 24, 2014
Halfway through the book now and I love it more for each page I turn. If you decide to only read one book on the topic of land grabbing then this is it! Cotula provides a balanced view with clear well structured arguments backed by field research, and offers new insights and perspectives for how to view the land deals commonly dubbed land grabs.
A book I strongly recommend!
A book I strongly recommend!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews