Land Relations, Food Security and Human Rights
A paper presented as a keynote address during the synergizing meeting for Food Rights Alliance (FRA) and other organizations working on land related issues as part and partial of the campaign actions on the land grabbing campaign.
Land Grabbing by Multinational Agro Companies
Land conflicts wouldn’t be as intense as they have become today, if it wasn’t for the entry of multinational and foreign governments into the business of land acquisition in Uganda and other Sub-Saharan states. A recent BBC report titled, “Land grab or Development opportunity” quotes FAOstat, where it shows the extent to which multinational agricultural interests have acquired land in Africa.
Reasons for land acquisitions are varied, so are the land dealers. According to the BBC report above, companies acquire land first because, “they expect world food and commodity prices to increase – so there is money to be made in agriculture.” Secondly, the report goes on, “some governments have also promoted land acquisitions abroad as a way to sense affordable food for their people.” These are only part of reason. Africa is home to a variety of tropical foods which can be grown without heavy investments. Abundant water and fertile soil are very attractive factors among others.
What is curious is that in many cases of foreign companies or governments acquiring land in Sub-Saharan Africa, this is done with the support of Sub-Saharan governments themselves. They see in these land acquisitions some kind of foreign investment. The BBC report already alluded to states that, “International land deals are a form of trade – and for years Africa has been asking for increased trade, rather than aid, as a way out of poverty. Economists say a 2% increase in Africa’s share of global trade could have unemployment. When it comes to agricultural land, Africa has a significant global competitive advantage – a position that it needs to make use of!”
Now, it is not only the poor peasant farmers who are selling off their land, even Sub-Saharan governments are doing the same. What is alarming in all these transactions is that, “some of the world’s poorest people are losing the land, water and natural resources that have supported their livelihoods for generations. In Uganda for example, 20,000 people claim to have been evicted from their land and a legal case is pending in courts of law.”
Land grabbing is only one kind of grabbing. There is a lot of grabbing in the public arena: There is grabbing of motorcycles, cars, mobile phones, children (grabbed for ritual purposes), household property etc…
Even in the event of motor accidents, often would be helpers end up grabbing property of accident victims. There is need therefore to widen our scope, focus our lenses, and ask in a in one fundamental way why the culture of grabbing is eating up the moral fabric of society. Widening our conceptualization will help us see that there are fundamental causes and could be the starting point of formulating more durable solutions.
By:Prof Wamala Edward
Makerere University.