Land Grabbing; something's gotta give

A recent study published in Environmental Research Letters; Food Appropriation Through Large Scale Land Acquisitions, discusses the issue of "land grabbing" and its contribution to food scarcity. The study calculates the amount of acquired land, the crops that the land could produce, the calorific content of those crops and the number of people that could be fed.

As the global human population continues to grow there is a need for increased agricultural production and therefore productive agricultural land is in increasingly greater demand. The planet already produces enough food to feed everyone, so the real issue should be our ability (or inability) to distribute this food and alleviate the food scarcity, malnourishment and starvation that are common in many parts of the world. However, as will become clear, this is not at the heart of agribusiness.

The growth of the biofuel industry is further increasing demand for productive agricultural land to grow biofuel crops. While the diversification of the energy industry and a move away from fossil fuel dependence represents an environmentally positive step forward it should be obvious that as demand grows for a finite amount of land, somebody has to lose out, and, as is so often the case, those losing out are among the most vulnerable people in the world.

Land grabbing refers to the purchase of agricultural land, and its transformation from subsistence farmland to large scale commercial agricultural land, without consideration of the impact of this change on the local community, who invariably lose out. It is perhaps all the more sinister because large scale international investors are targeting areas that are already susceptible to food scarcity.

It is argued that the acquired land has usually been under utilized and that the commercial farming companies have access to the resources and technology needed to boost production, 

furthermore the local community will benefit from job creation and investment in the area. However, this does not represent the reality of the situation. These crops are grown and sold for profit which means that they are exported out of the area of production to more profitable markets.

"between 2007 and 2012 large scale land acquisitions in the Pujehun district in Sierra Leone had a negative impact on local food and livelihood security (IFPRI 2012). The crops harvested in the acquired land were exported, while the local population was affected by loss of farmland, inadequate compensation for their land, and reduced access to food due to the increasing food prices."

"In Cambodia foreign direct investments in agricultural land are leading to the conversion of rice fields to sugar cane plantations and the relocation of peasants to less fertile land."

Agribusiness is not about feeding starving people and it is not about reducing fossil fuel dependence. It is about profits and economic growth. As demand for agricultural land grows this short-sighted and unsustainable growth pattern will continue and it will push increasing numbers of vulnerable people towards food scarcity. It is a deplorable irony that successful commercial agriculture is increasing food scarcity. It also demonstrates that our current consumption and growth patterns are mismatched with our resources.