Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The New Enclosures

46 million hectares of land have changed hands in 756 verified land deals. About half of all transactions take place in Africa, with many in Mozambique and Ethiopia.

"In many cases, it is common land or community land that is under threat," said Michael Taylor from the International Land Coalition. "If it is grazing land or land that local people use, they don't have any legal protection. It is on this land that we see the gravest of threats."

 In the Indian state of Gujarat, some 50,000 hectares have been acquired near Ahmedabad by the government for development as a special economic zone. But for the 16,000 people who live in 44 villages in the region and who graze their animals on this land, the move is unwelcome. As they don't have legal title, they would receive no compensation if the plan goes ahead.

"What we are seeing is the development of other instruments that allow investors to be more invisible, such as contract farming or through bank control," said  Dr Ward Answeeuw, from the French research centre CIRAD,"Instead of buying land through a foreign entity, they are buying stakes in local agribusiness that are controlling these lands." 

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