Land Grabbing and Sustainable

Agriculture in Ghana

DevNet Biennial Conference 2014

University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Seth Offei

Overview

• Introduction

• Methodology of study

• Results & Discussions

• Conclusions

• Recommendations

• References

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Literature • What is Land Grabbing?

• Large-scale, cross-border land deals or transactions that are carried out by transnational corporations or initiated by foreign governments (GRAIN, 2008).

• Large-scale acquisition of land whether outright purchase or lease of over 1000ha (Cotula et. al, 2009)

• ‘Taking possession and/or controlling a scale of land which is disproportionate in size in comparison with average land holdings in the region’ (Graham et al., 2010,).

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Literature (2)

• What is Sustainable Agriculture?

• “An integrated system of plant and animal production practices having profit over the long term, stewardship of our nation’s land, air and water, quality of life for farmers, ranchers and their communities” (SARE, USDA).

• Brundtland Report (1987) "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

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Drivers/Causes of Land-grabbing • Global food crisis -2007-2008 o the 2007-2008 global food crisis lead to high food prices o this reminded many food import-dependent countries of

their vulnerability to food insecurity and prompted them to seek opportunities to secure their food supplies overseas

o this has lead to land grabbing- i.e. large-scale acquisition of land for food production basically in Africa, Latin America, South East Asia by countries such as UAE, USA,UK, Israel, S. Korea etc

• Global demand for bio-fuel o Kyoto Protocol 1997, 2006 fuel crisis, EU 2030 agenda o Is land grabbing good or bad?

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Schools of Thought Proponents:

• Market access

• Revenue generation

• Capital and technology transfer

• Economic ( GDP) growth

• Job creation/employment

• Infrastructure etc

Opponents:

• Loss of livelihood

• Human rights violation

• Loss of identity and heritage

• Neo-colonialism

• Displacement of communities

• Environmental pollution

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Research Objective

In view of land being central to identity & heritage, livelihoods and food security of a people:

o To ascertain the trend and magnitude of land grabbing in the study area-Ghana

o To assess the effects of land grabbing on sustainable agriculture

Research Question:

Is land grabbing the end of sustainable agriculture in Ghana?

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Methodology

• Desktop qualitative descriptive method using secondary data from various sources, my own observation, review of available literature, telephone and facebook enquiry

• Study area is Ghana

• Duration: Data collection took a semester

opportunities and challenges of method

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Results & Discussions (1) • Total land area of Ghana 238, 540 square kilometres (km2)

• Total land area in hectares- 23, 884,245

• Total Agric land area (ha)-14, 038, 224

• 5million ha bought (FOE, 2010?) = equivalent to the size of Denmark

• 36% of arable land grabbed since 2006? 100% expected by 2030 Could be more

o Several publications report differently on the magnitude of land grabbing. Results vary due to methods used & year of publication. Whiles WB reports 45 million ha. have been acquired since 2007-2008, Oxfam argues that 227 million ha. have been acquired since 2000 (Oxfam, 2011). The Academy of Sciences of USA has it that claimed 80 million ha. area of land; this is twice the size of Japan or enough to feed 80 million families in India. Global Food Studies, University of Adelaide 9

Results and discussions (2) Forms of Land Use Identified Actors Emanating Effects

Food production Nestle, Unilever Integratd Tamale Fruit Co. Vegpro Ltd Agricingghana Syecomp ltd Banana, Mango, Pineapple, papaya, tuna

food is exported to investor countries-EU& USA. Farmers are pushed off, land cleared to make way for new owners. Food crops cleared in some cases, Some farmers are employed

Biofuel production •Jatropha Africa (UK/Ghan), •Biofuel Africa (Norway) •ScanFuel (Norway) • Kimminic Corporation (Can) •Agroils (Italy), •Galten Global Alternative Energy (Israel)

Farmers are pushed off land Land is cleared to make way for jatropha plantation. Food crops are cleared in some cases Farmers are left with no source of food and no income Some Farmers are employed

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Results and discussions (3) Forms of Land Use Identified Actors Emanating Effects/

issues

Mining Small-scale/immigrant miners, Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti, Star Africa Commodities and Minerals, Western Mining Ltd

Land is cleared for mining Water bodies polluted & dry No proper reafforestation programmes implemented Upper layer of soil disturbed

Human settlement infrastructure e.g. housing

Real Estate Developers, Private Individuals e.g. Purchases by migrants in their home countries

Procedure of sale leads to litigations Urban agricultural land/water is lost

Dev’t of protected areas /commercial conservation/ ecotourism.

Local and international hotels and resorts: Marriot , Hilton, Novotel

Large hectares of land become unavailable to local farmers Airfields needed sometimes e.g. UNESCO WH sites

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ECOTOURISM

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ECOTOURISM

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MINING ACTIVITIES

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Policy Gaps?

• No policy or regulatory framework: the Bioenergy Policy (National Renewable Energy Bill) for Ghana still remains a bill

• Environmental impact studies not strictly monitored

• Evidence of EPA approval to some illegal miners

• Officialdom sees FDI as ‘favour to nation’.

• Questions:

• Is the production of biofuel crops any real benefits to the poor in the developing countries?

• Will production of agro-fuel create jobs and enhance local economy?

• Will it address the food insecurity problem of Ghana?

• Any improvement in social and environmental wellbeing as a result of identified activities?

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Any failures?

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Conclusion & Recommendations

• Land grabbing is not a monster, idea is good and has potential to ensure global food security. However, evidence is inadequate to suggest there have been employment created, food security, capital and technology transfer and social infrastructure development in the host countries.

• Instead, people displaced, livelihoods lost, land is left in worse without conservation . Current trend of land grabbing posses a serious threat to S.A. and therefore:

• Need to develop a universal land valuation market through strong international collaboration to standardized land administration to prevent cheap sales and avoid exploitation.

• Education of all stakeholders required to drum home the implications of land grabbing on SA.

• Enactment of laws to regulate the sale and use of land and strengthening of state institutions via capacity building, funding and logistics etc. so that it can be effective & efficient to ensure SA.

• Further studies required on magnitude of land grabbing that each land use form causes

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KIA ORA THANK YOU

“Leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life, make amends if you do”. -Paul Hawken

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References • Vrolijk F., 2013, ‘The Local Impacts of Land Grabbing For Biofuel

Feedstock Plantations In Ghana’, Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands.

• Richmond Antwi-Bediako, 2013, Land Grabbing and Jatropha Boom in Ghana. http://beahrselp.berkeley.edu/blog/land-grabbing-and-jatropha-boom-in-ghana/27/06/14

• Cotula, L., Vermeulen, S., Leonard, R. and Keeley, J., 2009, Land Grab or Development Opportunity? Agricultural Investment and International Land Deals In Africa, IIED/FAO/IFAD, London/Rome.

• Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Ruth Hall, Ian Scoones, Ben White & Wendy Wolford (2011), Towards a Better Understanding of Global Land Grabbing: An Editorial Introduction, The Journal of Peasant Studies, 38:2, 209-216, DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2011.559005

• link to article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2011.559005

• Deininger et al, (2011), Rising Global Interest in Farmland: Can the Rising Global Interest in Farmland Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits? World Bank.

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References (2) • Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education,

http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/SARE-Program-Materials/National-Program-Materials/What-is-Sustainable-Agriculture 25/06/14

• OXFAM International, Land Grabs, http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/landgrabs/27/06/14

• GRAIN (2008), Seized: The 2008 Land-Grab for Food and Financial Security http://www.grain.org/article/entries/93-seized-the-2008-landgrab-for-food-and-financial-security/28/06/14.

• BBC DOCUMENTARY http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16590416/25/6/14

• Africa Succumbs to Colonial-Style Land Grabs http://www.channel4.com/news/africa-succumbs-to-colonial-style-land-grab/25/05/14

• Large Tracts of Land Being Acquired for Bio-Fuel Production in Ghana http://foodsecurityghana.com/category/land-grab/?subscribe=success#blog_subscription-2/25/06/14

• Land Grabbing: the End of Sustainable Agriculture? http://www.stwr.org/food-security-agriculture/land-grabbing-the-end-of-sustainable-agriculture.html/25/06/14

• Food Crisis Leading to an Unsustainable Land Grab http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/nov/22/food-biofuels/25/06/14

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References (3)

• Kolnes S.(2009), Pressures on West African Land Reconciling development and investment policies, Bamako, Mali 9. Dec. 2009 ww.oecd.org/countries/ghana/44435370.pdf/viewed: 20/9/14

• http://mofa.gov.gh/site/

• http://www.statsghana.gov.gh/

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