AFRICA WAKES UP AGAINST "LAND GRAB"

It is natural for any land and resource starved country to look for new opportunities to expand production of food and ensure food security to the citizens. The inter country land leasing system, increasingly being popular, is supposed to serve the mutual interests of both the lessor as well as the lessee but is attracting wide spread criticism from many quarters as it was felt that it accentuates the hunger problem in the leasing countries because the food produced by the lessee is often exported resulting in net reduction in food availability locally. Such a realization amongst the Africans is reflected by the recent uttering by some of the leading lights of the continent in the just concluded Food Summit at Rome.

"Libya's Muammar Gaddafi called for an end to the purchase of African farmland by food-importing nations at a U.N. hunger summit on Monday, describing it as new feudalism which could spread to Latin America as well. 'Rich countries are now buying the land in Africa. They are cheating African people out of their rights. This is also going to happen in Latin America ... ,' he told the summit, which was mostly attended by African and Latin American leaders".

Probably the views of Md Gaddafi may be too harsh but there is some substance in his stand that the lessor countries are not getting a fair deal in this uneven business arrangement. The fact that more inputs of technologies and other resources into lands which were not very productive, are being deployed and increased productivity is achieved, cannot be refuted. Probably it is the right forum to express what is needed to correct any distortion as the Summit is attended by almost all countries under the UN and if justice is to be done, a fair mechanism needs to be evolved under an international protocol equitable to all.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

GREEN RUSH-WHAT IS THAT?

World is never short of nice sounding jargon which can attract large audiences. The latest in this jargon dictionary is "green rush" which refers to the emerging trend of seeking land in Africa for cultivation of food by many resource limited countries mostly for their own benefits. Though some refer to this trend as "land grab", it may not be as simple as that because investors spend money for reasonable returns and obviously not for charity. If these experiments, if you can call it so, helps the countries leasing out land by raising the land productivity and increasing food availability for the local population, there should not be any objection from the world community to such mutually beneficial deals.

"The move takes place against the backdrop of an international rush for African land. Large tracts of land are being snapped up by cash-rich but resource-poor countries, as well as by countries struggling with the burden of feeding their swelling populations. Whether it is land for food production, or as some reports suggest, for bio-fuels, alarms bells have begun to ring about whether this investment in African land is a threat or a gain for the continent".

It is interesting to see India also included in the grabber's list along with countries like China, Korea, UAE, Saudi Arabia, etc and the Indian interest is mainly on account of the perennial shortage of edible oils and pulses that are considered essential, being experienced during the last 3 decades. International bodies must evolve some guidelines for such cross border land leasing to prevent local population from exploitation.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com