Investment In Agricultural Land Research Articles

Large-scale agricultural land investments and food security in Nigeria

The study examines how large-scale agricultural land investments (LIs) affect household food security in Nigeria. It is one of the few studies in Nigeria that offers new empirical insights into household food security. Precisely, it unravels how LIs affect the livelihood outcomes of households in communities where LIs operate compared to households in communities without such LIs. This study engages the mixed methods of analysis involving quantitative and qualitative techniques. The quantitative data is drawn from the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) utilising the Logistic regression technique. The qualitative aspect of this study involved fieldwork conducted in two distinct Nigerian states: Kwara State, situated in the North-Central region, and Ogun State, located in the South-West region. The qualitative findings further enrich the quantitative findings. It also helped to investigate the nature of jobs households engaged in and also the employment density of the investors’ farms which could not be done using the national representative data (LSMS). The results indicate that households in communities without land investments have 0.2% higher likelihood of being more food secure than households in communities with land investments and it is significant at 5%. The qualitative analysis reveals several key insights, including the observation that female headed households in communities with LIs are less likely to be food secure, receive less wages, and spend more time in communities with LIs. Government should put in place policies (for example, compensation policies) that will ensure that land deals are properly monitored and structured to benefit and protect the host communities. If the government fails to properly regulate land deals, rural people will always suffer. Also, they should monitor and control the activities, and the type of crops grown in investment farms so that land investments can bring about the desired benefits such as improvement in household livelihood and enhance food security in the communities where they exist.

The distribution of the rent–price relationship of agricultural land in Germany

Abstract This paper studies the profitability of investments in agricultural land, using the rent–price ratio (RPR) as a profitability measure. In order to allow for district-level heterogeneity, the full conditional distribution of the RPR is modelled using a generalised additive model for location, shape and scale. The analysis is based on data from Lower Saxony, Germany. The profitability of investments in land varies between and within districts. The variation can be explained by differences in the farming structure, the production programme and economic indicators. Further, differences in the distribution of the RPR between arable land and grassland are found.

ЗЕМЛЯ СІЛЬСЬКОГОСПОДАРСЬКОГО ПРИЗНАЧЕННЯ В УКРАЇНІ ТА МОНЕТИ КРИПТОВАЛЮТ: МОЖЛИВОСТІ РЕАЛЬНОГО ІНВЕСТУВАННЯ

In the absence of real objects for investment, the ability of economic entities to effectively distribute existing limited financial assets and form a quality investment portfolio is a guarantee for the investor not only to ensure high return on investment, but also to reduce investment risk. The emergence of cryptocurrencies in the second decade of the XXI century and the opening of the land market in Ukraine in mid-2021 for agricultural purposes have created new opportunities for investors to form highly liquid and highly profitable investment portfolios, using investment opportunities to buy farmland and cryptocurrencies. Together with the potentially high profitability of the investment portfolio formed from cryptocurrencies and agricultural land, there is no risk of complete depreciation of own savings in the future. The main purpose and task of the article is to study the theoretical and practical aspects of the current state and prospects of Ukrainian citizens' investment in agricultural land in Ukraine and cryptocurrency. In the process of research,, the following methods were used: analysis – to study the object and subject of research; abstract-logical (theoretical generalizations and formulation of conclusions on the formation of the investment portfolio of cryptocurrencies and agricultural land). Agricultural land has been found to be a valuable limited resource that currently has a potentially low price, but will continue to rise in price and generate stable income and will never depreciate. Although investing in cryptocurrencies is associated with significant risks, cryptocurrency coins have the potential to significantly increase their value and limits of use, so investing in coins can bring significant returns in the long run. It is proposed for economic entities in Ukraine to form an investment portfolio for medium and long-term investment and periodic passive income, which will include Ukrainian agricultural lands and cryptocurrency coins. The formation of an investment portfolio of agricultural land in Ukraine and cryptocurrencies, in our opinion, is effective and appropriate, however, requires further research because agricultural land and cryptocurrencies as objects of investment in Ukraine are relatively new.

The Price of Farmland as a Factor in the Sustainable Development of Czech Agriculture (A Case Study)

Each year, around 2% of the four million hectares of farmland in Czechia changes owners. However, after years of significant growth in prices, a slowdown in pace and demand is expected. Rising interest rates, a strengthening of the crown and legislative changes in 2018 have influenced the price of farmland. Yet the prices of farmland in Czechia are a third of those in the countries of Western Europe, and so it still represents an interesting opportunity for investors. Currently, land is bought primarily by the farmers who work it. In Czechia, 80% of farmers farm on hired land, and rent increases are starting to be an issue for many of them. The return on the investment in agricultural land is currently around 50 years for an owner and 25 years for a farmer working the land. As research has shown, the price of farmland is an important factor in the sustainable development of agriculture in Czechia, along with the greening of production and the fight against soil erosion and the effects of climate change.

How and why large scale agricultural land investments do not create long-term employment benefits: A critique of the ‘state’ of labour regulations in Ghana

Support for large scale agricultural investments in Africa has been mainly premised on their employment prospects for local populations. However, despite earlier calls by Tania Li to centre labour in the land grabs debate, labour is generally invisible in both mainstream policy and academic research. This paper, through a governance lens, draws attention to the implications of the global land rush on wage labour. In principle, policy frameworks that emphasise the labour potentials from large-scale land investments also gravitate towards regulations that seek to facilitate capital accumulation and mitigate negative impacts on communities – congruent with Ghana’s policy direction. This paper assesses the political-economic context of the legislative gaps in the current governance framework for wage labour and large-scale agriculture in Ghana; characterised mainly by absent, illusively present and repressive institutions. It is supported with empirical findings from the nature of farm workers’ incorporation into a transnational oil palm plantation in Ghana, their struggles over the nature of the investment, and the political orientation of the existing regulatory institutions. The study calls for policy measures which address power relations that shape the distribution of benefits from land investments, and also recognise structural inequalities that exist in and outside of agriculture.

Female labor outcomes and large-scale agricultural land investments: Macro-micro evidencefrom Tanzania

This paper examined the extent to which Large-scale Agricultural Land Investments (LALIs) has delivered on its promises (e.g. increased productivity, job creation, and rural development, particularly for rural women). We conducted empirical analyses using the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) dataset (macro evidence), which was complemented with two case studies of LALIs in Kilombero district, Morogoro region, Tanzania (micro evidence). The findings from the study revealed that the LALIs have limited effect on agricultural wage. However, the results show that LALIs have a negative association with the welfare of female-headed households located in communities with LALIs. On the micro evidence, we found that female-headed households working in the LALIs earned slightly lower agricultural wage compared to those not working in the LALIs. This implies that the use of LALIs in Tanzania to drive agricultural transformation requires specific targeting of potential beneficiaries.

Assessment of investments by the use of software application for development of the business plan in agriculture

In order to meet the requirements of more and more finicky customers, both on the domestic and foreign markets, the strengthening of the domestic economy competitiveness, imposes, besides all, the need for programs that will improve agricultural and rural development. Accordingly, it was done the software application for development of business plan in any field of agricultural production and rural economy. In this research, focus was turned on the economic efficiency of investments made in crop production. Specifically, the effects of the investment in agricultural land and mechanization for crop production were assessed. It was done by static and dynamic methods, as well as methods for investments assessment under uncertainty. In all three cases, the assessment of the project effects (including or excluding the time factor) indicates the justified investments.

Agricultural land investments and water management in the Office du Niger, Mali: options for improved water pricing

ABSTRACTLarge-scale agricultural land investments in Africa are often considered solely from the land perspective. Yet land, water and other natural resources are closely interlinked in agricultural production and in sustaining rural livelihoods. Such investments involving irrigation will potentially have implications for water availability and utilization by other users, making it imperative to regard water as an economic rather than a free good. Focusing on a vast irrigable area in Mali with recent large-scale investments, a bio-economic model was used to demonstrate that an improved water valuation system is needed to balance different water users’ needs while ensuring adequate environmental flow.

Legitimacy and accountability in the global governance of large-scale agricultural land investments

ABSTRACTThis article examines the international regulatory framework for large-scale agricultural land investments (‘LSALIs’). Population growth, natural resource scarcity, and the financial and food price crises have made financial actors revise their long-held hesitation towards direct investment in farmland. Although these investments could inject much-needed capital into rural areas, LSALIs have been connected with grievous human rights violations and environmental degradation. This article finds that the instruments designed to promote socially and environmentally responsible LSALIs have increasing levels of legitimacy but lack accountability mechanisms. As a result, the emerging regulatory framework for LSALIs does not create the balance required between protecting investors from host state interference and ensuring socially and environmentally responsible agricultural investments.

Land governance: the LANDac conference in Utrecht, The Netherlands, 8–10 July 2015

The Dutch Land Academy (LANDac) organised an international conference on ‘Land Governance for Equitable and Sustainable Development’ on 8–10 July 2015. Two hundred and fifty participants from thirty-five countries were in attendance and discussed papers presented in forty thematic sessions. The organisers were overwhelmed by the demand for the conference topic. The conference was originally planned for two days, but due to the large number of abstract submissions, it was extended to become a three-day conference. In addition to the thematic sessions, there were keynote sessions, keynote debates, roundtables and book presentations. To complement the conference, a PhD summer school on land governance and sustainable development took place. LANDac was founded in 2010. From the beginning, LANDac has focused on the drivers and actors of land governance in developing countries and continues to search for ways of generating ‘equitable and sustainable development’. In this context, the conference contributions focused on multiple forms of land-use changes and the underlying forms of governance. The broad perspective of the conference reached from large-scale investments in agricultural land, such as land grabbing, to the pressures placed on land through housing demands. To better understand these linkages, the role of national policies (Schoneveld and Zoomers, 2015) was emphasised by the conference organisation. Subsequently, the focus was set on policy change and, hence, impediments to or factors facilitating this change. The LANDac research group sees policy change from more than just an analytical point of view. Its objective is to look for ways to further facilitate change towards an envisioned sustainable development. In order to look for further answers, the debate on dynamics in land-use policies in the global South was expanded towards research on changes and comparison of land-use policies in the global North. Hence, the 2015 conference aimed at connecting both discussions to identify the opportunities for mutual learning in dynamics of land-use policies.

Global investments in agricultural land and the role of the EU: Drivers, scope and potential impacts

This paper investigates the recent wave of investments in agricultural land, often referred to as land grabbing; a term that not only emphasises the appropriation of resources by investors but also implies a criticism of their potential impacts on livelihoods and ecosystems in the target countries. This phenomenon has increasingly been the focus of public attention as well as a source of concern for NGOs, international institutions, academia and civil society. More specifically, this study investigates the role that the European Union member states play, both collectively and individually, in this wave of acquisitions in agricultural land, by providing a comprehensive overview of the drivers, scope and potential impacts of these land deals.

Brazilian agricultural activities facing foreign direct investment

Foreign direct investment in agricultural land may contribute to a shift in the aim of Brazilian food policies toward commodities of higher market value instead of the ones essential to local production and also the concentration of these valuable products which may threaten the food security of this society. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of foreign direct investments in Brazil on the food security of this country.

Food security or commercial business? Gulf State investments in Australian agriculture

Worldwide investments in agricultural land have gained much attention in recent years, resulting in renewed awareness of land as being a scarce and finite resource. This paper investigates a case of South-to-North land deals, namely investments from the Arab Gulf targeting agricultural land in Australia. For the Arab Gulf States that highly depend on external food supplies, investment abroad is one strategy to guarantee future food security. At the same time, leading Australian political and economic representatives have been eager to attract investments from the Gulf. Increasing foreign investment in Australian land has, however, provoked a vivid public debate in Australia. Concepts of foreign direct investment and its role are currently renegotiated on the federal level with regard to Australia's own food security, the ‘national interest’ and the redefinition of ‘Australian agricultural land’. While these concerns also play out on the local level, investments have to be seen within the wider context of Australian ruralities. The paper reveals how food security and commercial and financial interests intersect and become blurred within current transformations of the global agri-food system.

Land Grabbing, Sustainable Development and Human Rights

AbstractIncreasing investment in agricultural land by global corporations and investors from wealthy developed nations in poorer, less developed countries has significant human rights and environmental impacts. Proponents of such land deals argue that they provide opportunities for improvements in agricultural practices and generate employment, which will benefit economic growth in host countries. However, there is growing evidence that the phenomenon known as ‘land grabbing’ displaces poor and vulnerable populations and damages the environment, which in turn exacerbates poverty and food insecurity. This article explores the impact of land grabbing in Ethiopia and examines the human rights and sustainable development frameworks within which land grabbing takes place. The article argues that a human rights approach is fundamental to reconcile the sustainable development imperatives of economic development and environmental protection in the context of land grabbing. It advocates an integrated human rights and sustainable development approach as a holistic framework for assessing the impact of land grabbing and for the development of policy and regulatory responses.

Water security in the GCC countries: challenges and opportunities

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) inhabits of one of the most water-scarce regions in the world, once comprised small impoverished desert principalities. However, since the 1970s, the GCC has witnessed rapid population growth and economic development, brought on by sharp increases in oil revenues. Population growth coupled with increased urbanization, industrialization, and agricultural output has placed tremendous pressure on the region’s scarce groundwater resources. GCC countries are all using hundreds to thousands times more water than sustainable recharge would allow. Their water footprints, among the highest in the world, are sustained by unconventional sources of water such as desalination, wastewater reuse, and the import of “virtual” water via agricultural goods. This paper analyzes the current state of water in the GCC using a water–energy–food (WEF) nexus approach. The paper discusses various proposals for meeting future water needs in the GCC such as renewable energy-powered desalination and foreign direct investment in agricultural land and addresses the various tradeoffs involved.

Large-scale agricultural land investments and local institutions in Africa: The Nigerian case

Africa has become the most targeted continent for large-scale agricultural land investments (LALIs) with over 60% of the global figure. Some efforts have been made to investigate the determinants of LALIs at the global level; however, scare evidence abounds regarding the characteristics of target communities in a given country particularly in Nigeria, one of the top 20 recipients of LALIs globally. This study contributes by showing how community characteristics influence the likelihood of receiving LALIs and the aspects of such community characteristics that matter. Utilising community-level data in Nigeria and estimating with probit model, some findings are made. Unexpectedly, the indicators of local institutions in the communities do not exert significant influence on the likelihood of LALIs occurrence. This supposes that the local institutions are rather overwhelmed by the state. How the local institutions can be integrated for LALIs are suggested.

Managing Foreign Investment in Agricultural Land in Africa: The Role of Bilateral Investment Treaties and International Investment Contracts

AbstractThis paper seeks answers to three questions. What are the trends in terms of the role of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and land contracts in addressing complex environmental, social and governance issues implicated in foreign direct investment in agricultural land (agro-FDI)? Are countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) effectively using these two policy instruments to maximize the benefits of agro-FDI and to minimize associated risks and dangers? Do countries in SSA appreciate and are they effectively managing the complex interactions between international investment law, as encapsulated in BITs, and other regimes of international law, particularly the international human rights regime?

Global timber investments and trends, 2005-2011

Prior research in 2005 and 2008 estimated planted forest investment returns for a set of countries and included some natural forest species in a few countries. This research has extended those analyses to a larger set of countries and focused on plantation species, for seven years. This research serves as a benchmarking exercise that helps identify comparative advantages among countries for timber investment returns, as well as other institutional, forestry, and policy factors that affect investments. Furthermore, it extends the analyses to examine the effects of land prices, environmental regulations, and increased productivity on timber investment returns, as well as comparing timber returns with traditional stock market returns. We estimated financial returns in 2005, 2008, and 2011 for a range of global timber plantation species and countries, using net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and Land Expectation Value (LEV)--or the Faustmann Formula--as criteria. Per the Faustmann approach, we excluded land costs initially, using a common real discount rate of 8% for all species in all countries to make equivalent comparisons. Returns for exotic plantations in almost all of South America--Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, and Paraguay--were substantial, as well as in China. In 2011, returns for Eucalyptus species were generally greater than those for Pinus species in each country, with most having IRRs of 14% per year or more. The IRRs for Pinus species in South America were slightly less, ranging from 8% to 12%, except for Brazil, where they were 19% to 23%. Internal rates of return ranged from 5% to 12% for plantations of coniferous or deciduous species in China, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, and the United States. Although lower than returns from South America, these would still be attractive to forest investors. Land costs and environmental regulations reduced plantation investment returns for all the countries studied, but the largest reductions were observed in South America. However, net returns these remained greater than for plantations in temperate forests. Trend analyses indicated that Brazil had the greatest increase in timber investment returns during the period examined; returns in other southern hemisphere countries remained fairly stable; and the US South had substantial decreases in returns. New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Chile, and Mexico had the best rankings regarding risk from political, commercial, or government actions and for the ease of doing business. Conversely, Venezuela, Colombia, and Argentina had high risk ratings, and Brazil and Venezuela were ranked as more difficult countries for ease of business. Recent government actions in several countries in South America, except Colombia, have discouraged foreign investments in agricultural land, which has adversely affected forestry as well. Timber-land investments fared well in comparison to USA equity or debt annual returns from 2000 to 2011. Past timber-land investors appear to making excellent returns now based on cheap land costs decades ago; new investments in most countries and plantation species will have smaller rates of return, but still compare favourably with traditional asset classes.

Desertification, Land Grabbing and Food Sovereignty: The Unexplored Link

Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems and practices. Recent years, there has been a foreign investment in productive agricultural land in developing countries across the political, legal and geographical jurisdictions by governments as the result of a complex combination of a number of socio-economic and environmental factors. Among the factors, depletion of water resources and acceleration of desertification are the most significant drivers. For example, Saudi Arabia, which for many years encouraged wheat production, decided to phase 2016 because of depletion of fresh water abandoned agriculture due to alkalinity. Now they invest in foreign agriculture land. This changing nature of foreign investment in agriculture land has far reaching consequences food security. In many of the host States, there is an inadequate legal framework to protect rights of people. Based on the secondary sources, this paper analyses the link among desertification, land grabbing and food sovereignty. To comprehensively ad issues of hunger and poverty, the food sovereignty principles empower local communities to have greater control over their productive resources, use of production, and access local markets as well as n

New investment, old challenges. Land deals and the water constraint in African agriculture

Foreign investment in agricultural land acquisition in sub-Saharan Africa has been viewed primarily as driven by a set of linked ‘crises’: in financial capital markets, in security of energy and food supply, and in global environmental governance. This paper argues that a focus on the ‘buyers’ of land risks overlooking the dynamics that operate on the side of the land ‘sellers’. Accordingly, the first part of the paper argues that it is important to view the current ‘land grab’ as the latest stage in a longer historical process of competition for control of land and other natural resources by different ‘domestic’ economic and political actors within African countries. While such struggles are often characterised as the ‘state versus the peasantry’, with the state acting on behalf of ‘urban elites’, the paper argues that processes of accumulation and associated enclosure of natural resources need to be examined more critically in specific contexts if the role and impact of foreign capital investment are to be understood. The second part of the paper seeks to identify the ways in which questions of scale (in the sense of greater capital intensity) can be considered to be constraints to the development of African agriculture. Particularly, it considers the extent to which the production models most frequently mentioned in connection with foreign investment (large-scale mechanised farms and small-scale outgrower contract farming) respond to current productivity constraints. The paper argues that current debates about foreign investment in agricultural land underplay the importance of water resources needed to overcome production risks associated with irregular rainfall. Bringing the water dimension of land deals more clearly into focus is necessary if the scope for positive and negative impacts of new investment on existing land users is to be fully understood. The paper concludes by considering the implications of such challenges in the current context of foreign investment in agriculture in Africa.