Thursday, November 05, 2009

Grabbing up Africa's land

Via the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia):

...The food rights campaign officer for Action Aid, Alex Wijeratna, said: ''There's a new scramble for land in Africa. It's growing at an incredible rate. There's massive secrecy, poor communities can't get information and they're not being consulted....

Earlier this year the legendary speculator George Soros highlighted a new farmland-buying frenzy ... South Korea has bought huge areas of Madagascar, while Chinese interests have bought large swathes of Senegal to supply it with sesame.

''I'm convinced farmland is going to be one of the best investments of our time,'' Mr Soros said. ''Eventually … the bull market will end. But that's a long ways away yet.''


I'm not sure what to make of all of this: foreign investment and agribusiness is a no no to greens and local small farmers, but without agribusiness and modern techniques, Africa will continue to starve...my main question is if the aim is to sell to locals and make a profit or to export it while locals starve...

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