World Bank warns on 'farmland grab'

By Javier Blas in London
Financial Times, 27 July 2010

Investors in farmland are targeting countries with weak laws, buying arable land on the cheap and failing to deliver on promises of jobs and investments, according to the draft of a report by the World Bank.

"Investor interest is focused on countries with weak land governance," the draft said. Although deals promised jobs and infrastructure, "investors failed to follow through on their investments plans, in some cases after inflicting serious damage on the local resource base". In addition, "the level of formal payments required was low", making speculation a key motive for purchases. "Payments for land are often waived ... and large investors often pay lower taxes than smallholders ... or none at all."

The report, The Global Land Rush: Can it yield sustainable and equitable benefits?' is the broadest study yet of the so-called "farmland grab", in which countries invest in overseas land to boost their food security, or investors - who are mostly locals - buy arable land. The "farmland grab" trend gained notoriety after an attempt in 2008 by South Korea's Daewoo Logistics to secure a large chunk of land in Madagascar for a very low price and vague promises of investment. The deal contributed to a coup d'état in the African country.

The draft was leaked to the Financial Times by a person who said they wanted to prevent the World Bank releasing the report in the middle of the summer holiday period. The Washington-based body said the report was a work in progress and revisions were being made. "When it is released in August, we believe it will contribute much-needed data and other information to this complex subject."

The World Bank advocated in its draft the launch of a Land Transparency Initiative modelled on the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, which commits governments, mainly in developing countries, to disclose revenues from oil and mining groups to improve transparency on the deals. Critics noted that eight years after its launch, only Liberia, Timor-Leste and Azerbaijan, were full members of the EITI. But the draft said: "By establishing a consistent format for reporting on land acquisition and monitoring [the] process over time, it could provide access to information sorely missing."

The draft highlighted a few successes in land acquisition - mostly in Latin America and also in Tanzania - but the overall picture it gave was one of exploitation, warning that investors either lacked the necessary expertise to cultivate land or were more interested in speculative gains than in using land productively.

It stated that "rarely if ever" were efforts made to link land investments to "countries' broader development strategy". "Consultations with local communities were often weak," it added. "Conflicts were common, usually over land rights." The report said some countries allocated land to investors that was within the boundaries of local communities' farmland.

Data on farmland deals is sketchy, mostly relying on local media reports. But the World Bank's draft report said official data for a few countries showed large transfers, including 3.9m hectares in Sudan and 1.2m in Ethiopia between 2004 and 2009. The demand for farmland is unlikely to slow down due to higher commodity demand and prices.

People's Organizations Mobilize
across Asia and the Pacific
For World Food Day

Press Release, 16 October 2009

Momentum is building among people's organizations as World Food Day (WFD) quickly approaches. Parallel to events hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on October 16 in Rome, the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) and the People's Coalition for Food Sovereignty (PCFS) have jointly organized activities beginning this week and culminating at the FAO World Food Summit in Rome on November 16-18, 2009. Instead of celebrating the World Food Day, these grassroots organisations consider it more appropriate to remember the countless number of hungry people across different countries.

Millions of farmers, agricultural workers, fisherfolks, pastoralists and herders, indigenous peoples, women, migrants, consumers, youth and urban poor are in unison in resisting neoliberal policies responsible for the food crisis and climate change. Given the recent calamities in the Philippines, Indonesia and India, genuine people-centered solutions to the food crisis and climate change are more urgent than ever. It is ironic that the FAO is celebrating the World Food Day, when in fact, the whole world should be mourning for the millions of lives languishing in poverty and malnutrition brought about by imperialist globalisation.

This year, organizations across Asia will gather to create public awareness, provide policy recommendations, raise voices against neoliberal policies and highlight true people-centered responses to the world food crisis.

Events Calendar

In the Philippines, a nation-wide protest will be held on October 16. There will be an Indigenous Fair from 16-18 October and an Indigenous Task Force Meeting from 16-28 October.

In Nepal, the All Nepal Peasants Federation (ANPFa) will be holding a speaker series on the 16th October, to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Nepal.

In India, the Andhra Pradesh Vyarusaya Vruthidarula Union (APVVU) is organizing demonstrations in 23 districts across the state. The events will be held under the name 'World Foodless Day' as a symbol of current anti-people food policies. Demonstrations will be demanding that the current Food Security Act, now termed the Food Entitlement Act, be taken up under broader terms as the Food Rights Act. The proposed Act would include rights to land, seeds and water as well as special policies for droughts and floods. As part of the demonstrations, a memorandum will be handed over to the respective District Collectors and through them, to the Chief Minister of the State.

In Pakistan, Roots for Equity is celebrating Rural Women's Day with a celebratory seminar and protest rally on October 14 at the Hyderabad Press Club in Hyderabad, Sindh Province. On October 15, there will be a press conference to mark World Foodless Day at the Lahore Press Club, Lahore, Punjab, and on October 17 a press conference and protest will be held at the Peshawar Press Club in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province.

In Malaysia, the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA) is planning a conference on forestry, landrights and policy action on 24-25 October. The event will be held near the state capital of Kuching at the St Lukas Convent Centre and is co-organized by the NGO Jaring Orang Asal Malaysia (JOAS) and the Sarawak Indigenous Lawyers Alliance (SILA). Approximately 50 indigenous leaders from across Sarawak are expected to participate.

PCFS and PAN AP will also coordinate with different rural women's groups and formations to consolidate their efforts and activities.

Food Crisis in Asia

According to the FAO, the number of hungry people increased by an estimated 105 million in 2009, to a total of 1 billion, or one sixth of the world's population. Paradoxically, those worst affected are small farmers and rural communities, where 70 percent of the world's hungry live and work. Asia is particularly vulnerable as reported in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC's) Fourth Assessment Report (IPCCAR4 2007). Countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh and Cambodia have been identified as among the most vulnerable in the world to climate hazards like sea level rise, droughts, floods, and typhoons.

Thousands of communities are increasingly being de-linked, marginalised and disenfranchised from their food sources, resources and production systems. Communities are fast losing their potential, ability and responsibility to feed themselves.

It's time to listen to the communities. Genuine people's food sovereignty, land reform, and people-centered policies are urgently needed.

For more information on the food crisis and climate change and how you can get involved, please visit: www.panap.net.

PAN AP is an independent organization devoted to the reduction and elimination of hazardous pesticides, the promotion of biodiversity based ecological agriculture and the achievement of genuine food sovereignty. Currently, PAN AP has 108 partner groups in the Asia Pacific region, and outreaches to more than 390 CSOs and grassroots organizations in Asia and around the world.

PCFS is a global coalition of more than 600 people's organizations and networks committed to food sovereignty, including rights to land, food, resources to produce food in an ecological manner and rights to decide on agricultural and food policies.

For further information please contact:
Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific
(PAN AP)
P.O. Box 1170, 10850 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604-6570271/6560381
Fax: +604-6583960
Email: panap@panap.net
Website: www.panap.net

PCFS Secretariat
3rd Floor, IBON Center
114 Timog Avenue, Quezon City
1103 Philippnes
PO Box 1172 Quezon City Central Post Office
Philippines
Email: secretariat@foodsov.org