Land Ownership and Hunger

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Unfair distribution and lack of access to land are key explanations for poverty and hunger. In many parts of the world, it is the rich elites, not poor rural people, who own the land. And even if they do, inequality in wealth and power relations makes the rural poor more vulnerable to losing their rights. The struggle for land reform, which would shift the balance of power in favor of marginalized landless farmers, has been going on for many decades. However the food and financial crises contribute to worsening the trend towards land concentration, in which governments, agro-industrial corporations and private investors buy up fertile land in poor countries, depriving small farmers of their holdingsending their ability to grow their own food.

Articles and Documents

2009 | 2008 | 2007

2009

BP Faces Damages Claim over Pipeline through Colombian Farmland (November 11, 2009)

Colombian farmers have sued BP, one of the world's biggest oil companies. BP built a 450-mile (720km) pipeline through the country, which has caused severe harm to the soil and groundwater system. Environmental damages threaten the livelihood of many farmers, who now are claiming legal compensation. BP has not agreed to a settlement and the firm is fighting the case in UK courts, where the farmers are at a big disadvantage. (Guardian)

The Great Land Grab: Rush for World's Farmland Threatens Food Security for the Poor (October 2009)

The Oakland Institute has released a new report on the underestimated role of international financial institutions in the massive speculative buyout of farmland known as the "land grab." These institutions fund and promote investments in the agricultural sector at the expense of food security in poor and underdeveloped countries. (The Oakland Institute)

The New Landlords (September 26, 2009)

Transnational agro corporations reshape the world map and affect geopolitical strategies through massive land acquisition. The Indian company Karuturi Global Ltd. is an overlooked player in this business, according to a new UNCTAD report. As one of the top 25 agri-business companies, it buys enormous blocs of farmland in Africa and Latin America in order to cultivate flowers, sugarcane, staples, coffee and palm oil. Since the food crisis, the land grab has become an even more important investment strategy. Countries have also started to buy up foreign agricultural land, which is leading to displacement, hunger and environmental damage. (The Times of India)

Foreign Investors Snap Up African Farmland (July 30, 2009)

Governments and investment funds are buying up farmland in Africa and Asia to grow food. The buying of land often removes the only source for food and income for the domestic population. With growing global population and rapidly rising prices, land grabbing is a profitable business. The investors see how the combination of more people and less land makes food a safe investment, with high annual returns. They disregard the disastrous effects for the populations concerned. (Spiegel Online)

Europe's Overseas Push into Biofuels (May 13, 2009)

The global food and fuel crisis are leading to an alarming development of land grab, especially on the African continent. European companies from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark are buying huge areas of land to grow biofuels to the detriment of local farmers and local food production. Furthermore, emerging nations like China, India and oil-rich Gulf states obtain land to secure their own food supply at the cost of local food security. This article warns that political unrest will result from the combined effects of food insecurity and forced displacement of smallholder farmers. (Business Week)

US Investor Buys Sudanese Warlord's Land (January 2009)

Phillippe Heilberg's purchase of 400, 000 hectares of land in Southern Sudan displays a new form of colonialism in Africa and a second wave in the scramble for resources. The former Wall Street banker, who has strong connections with the CIA told the Financial Times that he dealt directly with Sudanese warlords. He speculates on the break-up of several African countries. (Ethiopian Current Affairs Discussion Forum)

2008

Rich Countries Launch Great Land Grab to Safeguard Food Supply (November 22, 2008)

Rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply (November 22, 2008)

Rich governments and corporations are buying more and more agricultural land in developing countries to secure their own long-term food supplies. This could result in workers of poor countries producing food for the rich, while going hungry themselves. Further, industrial food companies deprive small farmers of their livelihood. (Guardian)

Seized: The 2008 Land Grab for Food and Financial Security (October 2008)

The global financial crisis is prompting investors to seek new sources of profit. Many are buying cheap agricultural land in developing countries to make a profit from the soaring food prices. But privatization of land threatens small-scale farming and food security in the world's poor countries, as fertile land concentrates into the hands of a few private companies. (GRAIN)

Hoarding Nations Drive Food Costs Ever Higher (June 30, 2008)

Conventional economists argue that everyone will benefit if countries specialize in producing a few different food commodities and import the rest. But without any protection of the domestic market, farmers in poorer countries must compete with commodities subsidized by richer countries. As over 29 countries have restricted food exports to ensure that their people have enough to eat, the import-dependent countries have even less access to food. A group of food-importing countries is promoting an agreement in the Doha Development Round to prevent countries from unilaterally restricting exports. (New York Times)

The World Food Summit: A Lost Opportunity (June 10, 2008)

The World Food Summit declaration neglects to address the root causes of global food insecurity. World leaders failed to reach a solution on biofuel production, even though the International Food Policy Research Institute calculated that "production of biofuel is responsible for 30% of the rise in food prices." Furthermore, the declaration urged governments to reduce trade restrictions, even though trade liberalization is one of the main causes of the food crisis. (openDemocracy)

Manufacturing a Food Crisis (June 2, 2008)

The 2008 global food crisis demonstrates the destructiveness of the "one-two punch of IMF-imposed adjustment and WTO-imposed trade liberalization." These policies have steadily marginalized farmers, and transformed self-sufficient agricultural economies into vulnerable, import-dependent ones. Large industrial farms and grain-trading corporations control the global food market. However, poor countries increasingly defy World Bank, IMF and WTO policies - with fruitful results - and farmer's movements such as the Via Campesina are gaining in influence. (The Nation)

Destroying African Agriculture (June 3, 2008)

This Foreign Policy In Focus article argues that the shift of countries from net-exporters to net-importers of food caused the global food crisis. The author criticizes the IMF and World Bank's structural adjustment programs that lowered countries' investments and social spending. Several poor countries dedicated land for export crops to service their debt to the World Bank and IMF. As a result, food production has declined and food insecurity has grown. For example, from 1966-70, Africa exported an average 1.3 million tons of food a year but almost all African countries are now net food importers.

Why It's All About Land (April 17, 2008)

Multilateral lending organizations, aid agencies and NGOs have avoided addressing the politically sensitive topic of land inequalities in Africa. Explanations for conflicts around land have focused on Africa's lack of economic development. Rather, aid agencies should understand that, in the absence of social safety nets, land is the only asset which people can turn to for financial security. (Newstatesman)

2007

Achieving the Right to Food (October 16, 2007)

In 1948 the United Nations formally adopted the Right to Food as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But even without a legal obligation to treat food as a human right, countries have a moral obligation to ensure freedom from hunger by establishing a food system where resources are distributed more equitably. All people must demand that their leaders take action to guarantee the right to food. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

Global Policy Forum