One of the world's major buyers of farmland is under fire for their involvement in land conflicts, environmental destruction and risky investments. A new report by GRAIN and Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humano presents, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of Harvard University's controversial investments in global farmland.
The report finds that:
This report reviews the idea of inclusiveness in agricultural investments and analyses what ‘inclusiveness’ means to different value chain actors.
Oil palm investments are returning from Southeast Asia to West Africa, where the crop originated. As this interest intensifies, land conflicts are likely to become more prevalent. Our research shows that such disputes can treble the cost of cultivation and cause year-long delays. Despite this, many companies do not mitigate tenure risk because they lack the data and tools necessary to understand their risk exposure and take action.
Investors are buying up vast tracks of land across the developing world in a modern day ‘land rush’. New analysis by Oxfam explores where land is changing hands and why. It finds that investors appear to be targeting countries with weak governance in order to secure land quickly and cheaply – putting the homes and livelihoods of some of the world’s most vulnerable communities at risk. Oxfam’s GROW campaign is calling on the World Bank to lead the fight against land grabs.
After years of international isolation, Myanmar is liberalizing its economy and seeking to attract foreign investment. But while foreign investment can play an important role in developing the country’s agriculture sector, in the current environment of limited transparency and accountability, an increase in agribusiness investments poses serious risks to the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and others dependent on land.
China's presence in Africa has gained growing attention at an international level in the last two
decades, especially since the 2007 food crisis, however China's presence in Africa is far from new.
China can not been perceived as a new international actor, still its reemergence as a world's leading
economic power needs to be reconsidered. China's presence in Africa has been generating a
growing misunderstanding at a different level that Debora Brautigam clearly describes in her paper
China's presence in Africa has gained growing attention at an international level in the last two
decades, especially since the 2007 food crisis, however China's presence in Africa is far from new.
China can not been perceived as a new international actor, still its reemergence as a world's leading
economic power needs to be reconsidered. China's presence in Africa has been generating a
growing misunderstanding at a different level that Debora Brautigam clearly describes in her paper
Fish farming (aquaculture) is important to Myanmar’s food security and is developing and transforming quickly. This brief presents findings from a new field survey of the farmed fish value chain that is more detailed and broader than any previous study conducted in Myanmar. Many of our findings are at odds with what we perceive as conventional wisdom about fish farming in Myanmar. The findings have important policy implications to unlock the sector’s full growth potential and food security contributions.
p.219-228
GASTELO ACUÑA, Raul Patrício. Monsieur le Capital e Madame la Terre: dos fundamentos teóricos às significações da reforma agrária. 2009. 224f. – Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Sociologia, Fortaleza (CE), 2009.
O texto aborda a dinâmica dos conflitos fundiários no Estado do Amapá. O trabalho resgata a gênese desse processo, apresentado pela política e pela mídia como uma relação pacífica no campo. Na realidade, contudo, o Amapá constitui um dos estados da Federação com significativas incidências de disputas por terra. Para a realização da pesquisa foram coletados dados, especialmente, da Comissão Pastoral da Terra, por meio dos seus registros anuais (Conflitos no Campo); mas também foram realizados levantamentos sobre a dinâmica do campesinato e sua recriação no Amapá.