Subsistence farmers (små familiebrug) in developing nations are at risk because farmland equivalent to the total amount available in France has been negotiated away to foreign investors since 2006, Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said Monday.
In a report, De Schutter cited estimates of “between 15 million to 20 million hectares that had been subject to transactions or negotiations involving foreign investors since 2006”. Most of the dealings involved leases or the sale of land in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe.
De Schutter said many subsistence farmers had little in the way of established land rights, while local elites seized on foreign interest as a business opportunity.
– The arrival of foreign investors is leading to increased speculation on land, he said, adding: – In half of the cases it is not food that is produced, rather crops which will produce agrofuels in order to feed into the very rapidly increasing demand for bioenergy in rich countries.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
