You may not have heard this development but it is happening under wraps. The perpetrators are keeping it lying undetected by African writers. They are operating below the radar of journalists. In the 19th century, it was the scramble for Africa that ended in the partitioning and colonization of Africa. Today, the concern is that an unchecked “land grab” not seen since the 19th century partitioning of Africa by the whites is under way.
Reports said that some of the world’s richest countries are buying or leasing vast lands in Africa, the world’s poorest continent, ostensibly to satisfy their insatiable appetites for food and fuel. In the new scramble for Africa, reports said that about 2.5 million hectares (6.2million acres) of farmlands in just five sub-Saharan countries have either been bought, rented or leased in the past few years at well over $920million (£563million).
According to a report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and a London-based think tank, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), lands that seemed to be of little interest a few years ago have suddenly become gold and are being sought by international investors to the tune of hundreds of thousands of hectares, while the huge land deals reported to date are like “the tip of the iceberg”.
What are the reasons for this new scramble for African lands? The report said farmland purchases are being driven by “food security concerns, rising demand and changing dietary habits, expanded biofuel production and interest in what is, in theory, an improved investment climate in some African countries.”
Reports said that vast tracts of the continent’s arable but fallow land are being bought by companies described as “neo-colonialists” of African agriculture from India, South Korea, America and several oil-rich, food-poor Arab nations. Ironically, while China is not one of the big players in terms of acquiring large tracts of land, South Korea, Arab countries and some western institutions are said to be neck deep in the land grabs in Africa.
Reports also said that wealthy companies in the above mentioned countries have pioneered controversial African mega-farms to outsource food production and use cheaper labour. In India, such mega-farms are seen as more efficient than the traditionally small, family-run land holdings that exist throughout India.
Indian farming companies, backed by government loans, are said to have bought hundreds of thousands of hectares of lands in Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal and Mozambique, where they are now growing rice, sugar cane, maize and lentils to feed India’s domestic market.
That is not all. Reports said that the UK-based Lonrho corporation too leased 25,000 hectares of land in Angola for rice production; China bought 2.8 million hectares of land for a biofuel oil palm plantation in the Democratic Republic of Congo; while Qatar leased 20,000 hectares of farmland in Kenya for fruit and vegetable cultivation in exchange for funding a $2.3bn port development in Kenya.
And, in Ethiopia alone, reports said India invested $4bn in agriculture, mainly for flower-growing and sugar estates; the United Arab Emirate (UAE) bought 5,000 hectares of farmland for tea production in a joint venture with East Africa agribusiness and Germany’s Flora EcoPower also bought 13,000 hectares of land for biofuel crops. Still in Ethiopia; Britain’s Sun Biofuels bought land for jatropha, a biofuel crops, while some unknown Saudi investors leased land in exchange for $100 million in investment.
In its own case, South Korea’s Daewoo moves to purchase 1.3 million hectares of land to grow corn in Madagascar did not go through for political reasons. But, in Nigeria, reports said Transformation Agric-tech bought 10,000 hectares of land, while an unknown Chinese company also bought 10,000 hectares of land for rice production.
Sudan is reported to be a major target of the land grabbers. Reports said that the following land grabs have taken place in Sudan: Egypt bought land to grow 2million tonnes of wheat annually; Jordan bought 25,000 hectares of land for livestock and crops; Kuwait also acquired a “giant” strategic partnership; Qatar set up a joint holding company to invest in agriculture; Saudi Arabia leased 10,000 hectares of land for wheat, vegetables and livestock; South Korea acquired 690,000 hectares of land for wheat and the UAE is investing in 378,000 hectares of land after it had acquired another 30,000 hectares for corn, alfalfa and possibly for the cultivation of wheat, potatoes and beans.
