Dealing with the Race for Agricultural Land

It is becoming increasingly difficult to satisfy rising global demand for agricultural products in a sustainable way. Climate change, a rising world population with changing diets, increasing urbanization and industrialization and rising production of non-food crops all raise the global demand for agricultural land. How can population growth, food consumption patterns, climate patterns and land use be brought into a sustainable equilibrium? What international trade arrangements, environmental policies, nutritional trajectories and land use patterns are required for this purpose?

Financially strong private and public investors, mainly from Asia and the Middle East, have been buying (or renting on a long-term basis) arable land in Africa, Eastern Europe and Central and Southeast Asia.

On the one hand, these deals are often referred to as “land grabs”. As many of these investments are done in countries with an already tight nutrition situation and unstable political regimes, such as Sudan, the Philippines, Pakistan and Cambodia, they might cause problems for the local population.

On the other hand, investment in the agricultural markets in these countries is urgently needed and thus they could provoke a reactivation or development of rural areas. So it is not clear whether these developments should be called “land grabs” or “opportunities for development”. But it is essential to ensure that businesses, governments and civil society share the burden of turning “land grabs” into sustainable opportunities for development.

How can governments and businesses make sure that the gains to be achieved in agricultural productivity are shared in a way that balances the needs of populations of both recipient and investor countries? What are the effects of these investments on food security and poverty in these countries? What are the key issues to be taken into account while assessing the social and environmental impacts of proposed investments?

What is the role of land rights (including customary land rights) in rural areas in helping the people in recipient countries to avoid being arbitrarily dispossessed of their land and to obtain better deals from incoming investors? How can local satisfaction be increased to ensure the sustainability of long-term land deals? What mechanisms can be used to guarantee the transparency of all the transactions to avoid corruption charges?

What could be the contribution of international organizations to ensure that land deals maximize the investments’ contributions to sustainable development? Does there need to be international regulation to govern these “land grabs” to make sure that they benefit the local population and the larger society?