‘Global land grab’ causing alarm among NGOs

MADRID (AFP)

“On the one hand, ‘food insecure’ governments that rely on imports to feed their people are snatching up vast areas of farmland abroad for their own offshore food production,” said the Spanish-based NGO Grain.

“On the other hand, food corporations and private investors, hungry for profits in the midst of the deepening financial crisis, see investment in foreign farmland as an important new source of revenue.”

The result is that fertile agricultural land is becoming privatised and concentrated.

Among the countries looking for concessions are Arab countries in the Gulf, as well as China, Egypt, India, Japan and South Korea.

Among the target countries are the Philippines, Cambodia, Uganda and Brazil, said Grain.

“If left unchecked, this global land grab could spell the end of small-scale farming, and rural livelihoods, in numerous places around the world,” it said.

AFP