A report by Worldwatch Institute, looking at 25 sub-Saharan states, has found that some Western countries are purchasing large tracts of land in Africa for biofuel production. It also highlights how even when a country invests in farmland to grow food for consumption, the food is exported and the host nation is left to fend for itself. These land grabs have been promoted as "responsible agricultural investment" and encouraged by the World Bank Group and the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization. Rather than providing a solution to the food crisis by "tapping into a country's 'unused' agricultural potential, land grabs disrupt traditional land use" for Western profit, says Nourishing the Planet Director Danielle Nierenberg.
August 9, 2011
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