OPINION: Africans' Land Rights at Risk as New Agricultural Trend Sweeps
Continent
By <
http://www.ipsnews.net/author/janah-ncube/> Janah Ncube
NAIROBI, Sep 1 2014 (IPS) - Agriculture in Africa is in urgent need of
investment. Nearly 550 million people there are dependent on agriculture for
their livelihoods, while half of the total population on the continent live
in rural areas.
The adoption of a framework called the Comprehensive African Agriculture
Development Program (CAADP) by Africa's leaders in 2003 confirmed that
agriculture is crucial to the continent's development prospects. African
governments recently reiterated this commitment at the Malabo Summit in
Guinea during June of this year.
After decades of underinvestment, African governments are now looking for
new ways to mobilise funding for the sector and to deliver new technology
and skills to farmers. Private sector actors are also looking for
opportunities within emerging markets in Africa.
Large-scale public-private partnerships (PPPs) are an emerging trend across
the continent. These so called 'mega' PPPs are agreements between national
governments, aid donors, investors and multinational companies to develop
large fertile tracts of land found near to strategic infrastructure such as
roads and ports.
Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana and Burkina Faso all host this type of
scheme. Several African countries have signed up to global initiatives such
as the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, supported by the rich,
industrialised economies of the G8; and GROW Africa, a PPP initiative
supported by the World Economic Forum.
For governments, these arrangements offer the illusion of increased capital
and technology, production and productivity gains, and foreign exchange
earnings.
But as Oxfam reveals, mega-PPPs present a moral hazard with serious
downsides, especially for those living in areas pegged for investment.
In particular, the land rights of local communities are at risk. Within just
five countries hosting mega-PPPs, the combined amount of land in target area
for investment is larger than France or Ukraine.
While not all of this land will go to investors, governments have earmarked
over 1.25 million hectares for transfer. This is equal to the entire amount
of land in agricultural production in Zambia or Senegal.
Due to weak land tenure found in many African countries, this land transfer
places local communities at significant risk of dispossession or
expropriation.
These arrangements also threaten to worsen inequality, which is already
severe in African countries, according to international measurements.
Mega-PPP investments are likely be delivered by - and focus on - richer,
well connected companies or wealthier farmers, bypassing those who need
support the most. More land will also be placed into the hands of larger
players further reducing the amount available for small-scale producers.
The ability of small and medium sized enterprises to benefit from these
arrangements is also in doubt. The size of just four multinational seed and
agro-chemical companies partnering with a mega-PPP in Tanzania have an
annual turnover of 100 billion dollars - that's triple the size of
Tanzania's economy.
These asymmetries of power could lead to anti-competitive behaviour and
squeeze out smaller local and national companies from emerging domestic
markets. Larger companies may also gain influence over government policies
that perpetuate their control.
These types of partnership also carry serious environmental risks. An
example of this is the development of large irrigation schemes for new
plantations. They can reduce water availability for other users, such as
local communities, smaller farmers and important other rural groups like
pastoralists.
The need for private sector investment in Africa is manifest, but the
quality of those inflows of capital is vital if it is to enhance the
livelihoods of millions of food producers in Africa. The current mega-PPP
model is unproven and risky, especially for smallholder farmers and the
poor.
At the very heart of the agenda to enhance rural livelihoods and eradicate
deep-seated poverty in rural areas should be a clear commitment towards
approaches that are pro-smallholder, pro-women and can develop local and
regional markets. The protection of land rights for local communities is
also - and equally - paramount.
Oxfam's experience of working with smallholder farmers shows that private
sector investment in staple food crops, and the development of rural
infrastructure such as storage facilities, combined with public sector
investment in support services such as agricultural research and
development, extension services and subsidies for seeds and credit, can
kick-start the rural economy.
Robust regulation is also vital, to ensure that private sector investment
can 'do no harm' and also 'do more good' by targeting the areas of the rural
economy that can have the most impact on poverty reduction. African
governments should put themselves at the forefront of this vision for
agriculture.
These represent tried and tested policies towards rural development in other
contexts. This approach, rather than one that subsidises the entrance of
large players into African agriculture, would truly represent a new alliance
to benefit all.
Janah Ncube is Oxfam's Pan Africa Director based in Nairobi, Kenya.
_at_JanahNcube
Received on Mon Sep 01 2014 - 09:01:22 EDT