Foreign interests lay hands on African farm land in Madagascar and Burkina Faso

A new threat looms over Africa and its farmers. In the wake of the food crisis , rich countries are increasingly concerned with their food security and  are taking leases on large farming estates  abroad.  Most of the time they  lean on agri-business companies and private investors, who see a new and important source of income in a stake in farm land abroad. Farmers in countries which  sell out to such groups run a serious risk of becoming landless in a near future. 

Mainland Africa and Madagascar

A recent deal between South Corea and Madagascar is a perfect example of these practices. They are of  such proportions that  one finds it   hard to believe : « The South Corean giant, Daewood Logistics has entered into an agreement with Madagascar on a land lease of 1.3 million hectares – that is half the arable land of the Great Island – for the production of maize and palm oil for the next 99 years. How can a government deliberately indebt the future of its country’s  inhabitants? It has to be remembered that the population increases by 3% a year, which means that it will  double in less than 25 years .Where will the children of today’s farmers turn, if half of the farm land has been sold off ? »

« South Corea is  far from the only rich country to cast its eyes on Africa. According to the FAO there is an ever increasing number of foreign buyers wanting access to the immense farm acreage of the black continent to ensure their own food supply and provide a  growing market with biofuel. In the hope of getting some windfall benefits  out of such deals, most African governments are prepared to let up vast land areas to  foreign investors, even to the detriment of their own starving population.  Angola, for instance, is now negotiating a deal  with Brazilian, Canadian and US investors. Sudan is looking for candidates for some 900 000 hectares. Ethiopia is courting Saudi Arabia and Tanzania is  generating interest in the West for the production of biofuels. The FAO might well sound the alarm and warn against the risks of a new form of colonialism, but the phenomenon continues to spread nevertheless. » (Tribune de Genève 25 Nov 2008).

In Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso things have not yet gone that far, but there is already good reason to be concerned and to remain vigilant. Even if the trend is not yet a massive one, several private companies have been able to obtain land to grow the Jathropa plant for biofuel. But there is also a movement within the country to get hold of the best farm land. That is why Alfred Sawadogo of the SOS Sahel  expressed anger at the annual meeting of the association, over the land ownership of certain members of the government:  « It is not good for a government minister to buy land of a certain size during his term of office. The duty of government members is to take strong action to see to it that producers and farmers,  who make their living directly from their work on the land, can become modern managers of modern farms …. It is not fair that it is the members of the government who buy up the good farm land and become model producers … »

He therefore expressed  fear of expropriation, « in about twenty years from now, of all the  prime land of our country », which would fall into the hands of the rich and would leave the next generation of farmers  totally destitute. (LE PAYS, daily paper, Burkina Faso, Tuesday December 2, 2008).

For further information we refer you to a well documented article on this development in the website of Grain.

Koudougou December 5th, 2008

 Maurice Oudet

Director, SEDELAN