The Guardian reports that recent land grabs across the globe - in response to drought, demand for biofuels and pressure to feed a growing population – will not benefit poor smallholder farmers.
In recent years, foreign governments and investors have purchased or entered into long-term leases for millions of hectares in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Many of these deals have overlooked the concerns of local residents and farmers who had lived off the land for generations and who may not have been able to prove their rights to farm the lands.
One of the factors behind exhausted soils and depleted water tables in developing countries is insecure farmers' land rights. Farmers are unlikely to invest in sustainable agricultural techniques such as agroforestry if they are unsure about their right to their families' land in the future.
Many NGOs are lobbying for something to be done to protect the world's landless poor. The United Nations has introduced ‘Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security’ and investors are slowly coming to realize the value of securing the rights of local landowners both as the morally right thing to do as well as a smart business decision.
Standards such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) provide requirements that land deals must follow to guarantee local environmental and cultural sustainability. But, says Darryl Vhugen from the Seattle-based NGO Landesa, “the devil is in the implementation”. Legal infrastructure in such counties is often weak and implementing a responsible land investment policy is a challenge because of the lack of effective governance.
Vhugen is adamant that large commercial farming alone will not feed the planet and smallholder farmers are vital to ensuring global food security. He advocates approaches such as nucleus farming, where large parcels are leased out while surrounding small farmers still till their land.
The article calls for investors to “engage, not evict, the locals, and invest in their future. The results will be not only a more fair and humane policy, but prosperity for everyone who has a stake in these lands”.
Read the full story: The global land grab is the next human rights challenge for business
