Fertile Land in Africa Being Stolen By Foreign Governements and Companies

[Panaconda]

Land Grabs in Poor Countries Set to Increase
By Hilaire Avril

PARIS, Sep 8, 2010 (IPS) - After weeks of rumours sparked by the leaking of a draft World Bank position paper on so-called land grabs in poor countries, the international financial institution has officially released its report on the surge in farmland purchases and leasing which have elicited controversy for over two years.

Acquisitions of vast tracts of fertile land in Africa by foreign governments and companies eager to secure affordable food resources in highly volatile commodity markets stirred public attention when the South Korean company Daewoo bought more than a million hectares of farmland in the east African island state Madagascar.

The World Bank report, titled "Rising Global Interest in Farmland. Can It Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits?" and released on Sep 8, cautions that "an astonishing lack of awareness of what is happening on the ground" exists -- even by the public sector institutions mandated to control this phenomenon.

It estimates that 2009 saw 45 million hectares of farmland deals going through and predicts that, "given commodity price volatility, growing human and environmental pressures, and worries about food security, this interest will increase, especially in the developing world".

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http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52762

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. kick

[leeroysphitz]

2. Still? n/t

[WCGreen]

3. Plantation mentality all over again...

[Panaconda]

5. That's

exactly right.

[jwirr]

4. We have stolen every other resource they had - this is the only thing

left!!!! Are we that desperate that we will kill them off for their land?