Agricultural Development and Land Rights: Who Wins and Who Dies?

Abstract

This paper looks at a recent global phenomenon in which international investors are acquiring massive tracts of agricultural land in developing countries while displacing its inhabitants. Pejoratively referred to as “land grabbing,” this phenomenon is occurring in once underdeveloped land in sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, Central and East Asia and Latin America. Where land utilized by indigenous farmers, herders and pastoral communities were considered inconsequential, it is now seen as prime real estate, driven by the global demands for food commodities and bio-fuels. But while agricultural land is generating revenues for states and increasing its productive use, indigenous populations face the hardships from displacement from their lands that include loss of livelihoods, access to food, water and the means for economic survival. The paper will focus on the this phenomenon as it is currently happening in Ethiopia then explore the human rights ramifications of these land acquisitions and then consider the implications for those investing in this new global asset.