Beyond anecdotal evidence of land acquisitions in Lao PDR

LIWG Food security WS1st June 2012

First results on: Dimension and Geography of LA in Lao PDR

Andreas Heinimann, Oliver Schoenweger, Michael Epprecht, Palikone Thalongsengchan

Mushrooming of land concessions & leases in the last decade

Nr.

of

land

con

cess

ions

& le

ases

CPL induced landscape transformation

Systematic national data

Dimension, contexts and pattern

Local case studies & evidence

processes

3’600 deals, whereof 2’640 concessions type, 1,350 with spatial reference

1.1 Mio ha concessions (without mining exploration)

Agri 140’000 ha & forestry: 300’000 ha

~15% of all villages have a least 1 concession

Information and knowledge sources:

Emerging patterns by sector

Source: CDE, MoNRE, GIZPreliminary results; do not cite

Products of agricultural concessions

Source: CDE, MoNRE, GIZPreliminary results; do not cite

N = 360, Area = 140’000 ha

Products of forestry concessions

Source: CDE, MoNRE, GIZPreliminary results; do not cite

N = 367, Area = 306’000 ha

Spatial patterns by Investor

Source: CDE, MoNRE, GIZPreliminary results; do not cite

Pattern by Investor: Focus on Agri & forestry sectors

Jatropha

Sugarcane

Source: CDE, MoNRE, GIZPreliminary results; do not cite

Contexts of concessions: e.g. Poverty

Source: CDE, MoNRE, GIZPreliminary results; do not cite

Av. National poverty rate

Contexts of concessions: Accessibility

Source: CDE, MoNRE, GIZPreliminary results; do not cite

Note:Caution is needed when interpreting, as 2002 land cover data is problematic (e.g. “unstocked forest” or “forest issue”)

Contexts of concessions: Land cover

Tendency of shifting upland crops to hinterland due to commercial crop pressure in well accessibly regions

K. Hurni , et al, in prep

Shifting cultivation dominated landscapes between 2001 - 2009

• This is first , one point in time, picture of dimension and context of land deals. (But 1. contract farming not included in this and 2. the distributed mandates among the sectors do not yet ensure consistent monitoring & sharing)

• Only very few products dominate the land rented out in the agriculture and forestry sector

• FDI deals are on average by factor 3 -5 time larger in terms of area granted than domestic ones, and by tendency in more remote regions

• Land deals are not mainly in the very marginal areas (in terms of poverty, accessibility and ethnicity), but still a considerable share of such regions is potentially affected

• Some indications that land deals are to a considerable share taking place in regions with rotational agricultural systems

• Some signs that, due to CPL pressure in better accessible regions, subsistence food production is shifted to more remote location (temporary symptom only ?)

Summary & some key messages

NOTE: Hydropower reservoirs are NOT concessions, hence not in this inventory