Large scale agribusiness strikes again.

[hoodat]

Corporate farming has come up with a new twist in Africa. Get governments to confiscate the land from small farmers and lease it to them.

African Farmers Displaced as Investors Move In

Across Africa and the developing world, a new global land rush is gobbling up large expanses of arable land. Despite their ageless traditions, stunned villagers are discovering that African governments typically own their land and have been leasing it, often at bargain prices, to private investors and foreign governments for decades to come.

Organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank say the practice, if done equitably, could help feed the growing global population by introducing large-scale commercial farming to places without it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/world/africa/22mali.html

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

Interesting article. I was reading a similar article regarding the same practice used for water rights in many developing countries.

Sad to see what's becoming of the world, piece by piece.

 

[lesa]

Kind of sounds like history repeating itself- think Native American's. Just what the world needs more huge farms, ruining the earth. "If it can be done equitably"??? Please, who are they kidding?

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i mentioned the Native American thing to my dh earlier when i read that article!

it's all determined by the bottom line for big business isn't it!? not one of them thinks of anyone's quality of life before that!

 

[vfem]

Its all about the quality of life for the top 1% of the world. Because they NEED private planes while they let children starve.

:/

 

[hoodat]

The big business pitch is that they are producing more food to feed a hungry world but the truth is the African villagers those small farmers fed will now be the ones starving. In many parts of Africa remote villagers almost never get their hands on actual money. The food those small farmers grow is bartered for meat, milk, eggs etc. I sort of doubt big agribusness will accept payment in chickens or goats. The food that will be grown on that land will be shipped to richer nations where food is already plentiful.

 

[seedcorn]

The big business pitch is that they are producing more food to feed a hungry world but the truth is the African villagers those small farmers fed will now be the ones starving. In many parts of Africa remote villagers almost never get their hands on actual money. The food those small farmers grow is bartered for meat, milk, eggs etc. I sort of doubt big agribusness will accept payment in chickens or goats. The food that will be grown on that land will be shipped to richer nations where food is already plentiful.

1) Displacing people is NEVER a good thing. We do it in America all the time. Want to build a road, people will be displaced.

2) These people are already starving, let's get serious.

3) Different Ag for them will mean jobs and money to buy other items. Plus a dependable supply of ag products-food. Famine is common. Because of ag jobs, they will have $$ to buy more food than they've ever been able to eat.

4) If it is a high value product that is exported, it will be replaced with more quantity product to feed many people.

Again, stealing from individuals is not a good thing, not defending that. The reality is Africa is starving & their governments are making HARD decisions to feed the WHOLE nation & not the priviliged few who have land. As a country we've become so use to having plentiful supply of food, we have no appreciation for the lack of food in other countries. We are the spoiled elite of the world.

 

[wifezilla]

They are starving because of the government in the first place. Putting those same people in charge of agriculture and displacing the natives will lead to more starvation. Remember China? The Great Leap Forward?

"In Xinyang, people starved at the doors of the grain warehouses. As they died, they shouted, "Communist Party, Chairman Mao, save us". If the granaries of Henan and Hebei had been opened, no one need have died. As people were dying in large numbers around them, officials did not think to save them. Their only concern was how to fulfill the delivery of grain."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine

 

[seedcorn]

they are starving because of farming techniques and unregulated pop. growth. Throw in a few droughts, you've got a formula for failure.

Just because some governments are bad (no surprise that an asian country does not value human life) doesn't make all bad. Using that analogy, since some people are evil, therefore all people are bad.

Deal with reality people, African agriculture is NOT working. They can't make enough food to feed even a decent part of their people. How many shiploads of free grain have we sent them? How many commercials are on TV asking us to support their starving children? But hey, go ahead defend their ag system. Call those trying to feed the WHOLE country and not just the elite, evil. that works for me.

Again, not defending stealing. But they are faced with having to make HARD decisions. So do you allow the elite to go on while everyone else starves? Why do you think they have so many war lord fights over land/food? Again, we in America are the world's elite in food.

 

[thistlebloom]

As a country we've become so use to having plentiful supply of food, we have no appreciation for the lack of food in other countries. We are the spoiled elite of the world.

Excuse me for taking exception to that statement, but we have a system of government that makes it possible ,and we are unique in that. Having the freedom to work hard and benefit from our labor makes us neither spoiled or elite.