Discontent from “land grabbing” in Africa has struck in Ethiopia, where the BBC reports that “opposition activists claim that a number of arrests and the killings of 10 local farmers are as a direct result of” the Ethiopian governmental policy to lease 3 million hectares of land – an area the size of Belgium – to Saudi Arabian, Indian, Chinese, and other firms over the next 5 years.
“Land grabbing,” blogged about earlier on Global Food Security, is the purchasing of arable land by foreign governments in order to secure their own food supply. Ever since the stark increase in food prices in 2007-2008, “countries rich in capital but with land and water constraints, such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and China,” are buying up land in developing countries, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). More than 70% of the deals are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Saudi Arabia, for example, once acquired all of its food from India and Asia, says Birhani Fasaha, director of the Saudi Star Corporation. “But the Indians withheld their rice in 2008, so the Saudis want an option.”
According to the article, “the Ethiopian government stipulates that foreign investors will have to satisfy domestic food needs before they can export.” At the same time: “The Saudis alone say they are hoping to produce as much as a million tonnes of rice per year, most of it for their own domestic market.”
So will the foreign investment, undoubtedly done in the foreign nation’s own self-interest, benefit African countries as well? A World Bank report shows that while long-term planning aided Latin American countries success, African governments yield their development goals to the needs of investors.
Land grabbing is also, underneath, a human rights issue. The 3 million hectares are located where Ethiopia’s ethnic minorities survive as pastoral farmers.
Countering the “land grabber” label, Saudi Star plans to lease 100,000 hectares of land from Ethiopia; and promises to bring clinics, schools, better roads and electricity supplies in return. Government minister Abera Deressa claims that foreign investors should help boost agricultural output by as much as 40%, hopefully reducing the ranks of the 13 million Ethiopians that currently rely to some degree on food aid.
As for the dilemma facing pastoralists, government minister Abera Deressa said: “’We have to improve their livelihood by creating job opportunities. Pastoralism, as it is, is not sustainable. We want to change the environment.'”
Posted by Rishi Sidhu.
