Rush on African land

WITH a shortage of arable land and rising global demand for food driving foreign states toward Africa, the once-colonised continent risks coming under new domination if the deals are mishandled, experts warn.

In a recent report, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said ‘land is an inherently political issue across the globe. The addition of another actor competing for this scarce and contested resource can add to socio-political instability in developing countries’.But pointing to a dearth of infrastructure and general underdevelopment in many African countries, Nigerian economist Jonas Chianu argued that the exchange of land for development provides a way out for growth. ‘Instead of allowing the resource to lie unexploited, it is better to embark on lease arrangements,’ he said.At the recent G8 summit in Italy, leading industrialised countries announced plans to regulate the land acquisitions in developing nations. ‘Investors have no obligations. Millions of hectares are traded at throw-away prices on three-page contracts,’ said Olivier de Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food. ‘All this is happening without the knowledge of the people,’ he saidBut some analysts counter that land leases may just be the solution to food shortages and an avenue for development. South Korea’s Daewoo Logistics had planned to sign Africa’s largest land lease deal in Madagascar until the arrangement was abandoned following the outbreak of a political crisis there in January this year.The firm was to develop 1.3 million hectares of farmland, the size of Belgium, but the political upheaval, partly due to the deal, scuppered plans that have since been put on hold.Under the agreement, Daewoo planned to produce four million tonnes of maize and 500 000 tons of palm oil a year. Madagascar’s president, Marc Ravalomanana, fled the country on March 25 after Andry Rajoelina seized power with army support amid street protests.In Kenya, authorities in December 2008 announced plans to lease 40 468 hectares of land to the Qatari government in exchange for the Gulf state’s $3.5 million investment in a new port, road and railway network. To cope with rising global grain prices, China’s Chongqing Seed Corporation said in May 2008 it planned to grow rice in Tanzania, where it had identified 299 ha for potential use.’It is probably a good thing for those countries on the one hand but a terrible thing for the African countries, because it’s like starting a branch of whatever country we are talking about here,’ said Pêdro Sanchez of the Earth Institute. ‘They will be able to bring all the technology, investment and increase food production, but I am afraid it is not going to generate employment for the Africans’.Weeks after Kenya announced the plans, President Mwai Kibaki declared a national disaster as about 10 million people faced food shortages and appealed for $400 million in foreign aid. Kenyan lawyer Evans Monari termed the lease deal with Qatar as ‘hegemony.’’Qatar would never give Kenya a stake in its oil fields,’ he said. – Sapa