Land Grabbing

Land Grabbing
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Land Grabbing
Land grabbing has been one of the most debatable issues in the recent past. It is the issue regarding economically significant transactions of buying or leasing of significantly large areas of land in countries with relatively weak economies. Such transactions are mostly carried out by multinational entities. The land bought through such transactions is then used by the companies to produce food products for the purpose of export and the production of biofuels.
Land grabbing is a contentious issue because economically strong countries are exploiting underdeveloped countries in order to meet the demand for food products in their local markets. Economically developed countries mostly depend upon their industrial infrastructure for the running of their economy; however most of such countries are poor at food production. On the other hand, most of the underdeveloped countries depend upon their agricultural system and they have fertile land that is good for food production. Underdeveloped countries in Asia and Africa have fertile land which is highly feasible for agricultural production and such countries have become the target for land grabbing by economically strong but agriculturally poor countries. In this scenario; countries with strong economy but poor agricultural system are buying huge areas of land in underdeveloped countries with fertile land in order to produce food and biofuels in a cost effective manner and to fulfill the requirement in local markets.
The reason behind the increase in land grabbing in the recent past is the increasing food insecurity in a number of nations. Food crises have occurred in the recent past and in order save themselves from any such crisis, food-insecure nations are heavily investing in land grabbing to ensure uninterrupted supply of food in all circumstances. This can be regarded as a clear exploitation of the rights of the people living in the countries where the land is bought.
Origin of Land Grabbing
Land grabbing is a relatively new issue and a large proportion of people are still unaware about it. There were certain events that happened in the recent past that brought the issue of land grabbing to light. One example of such issues is that of Madagascar. A deal was in the process of negotiation but it was called off due to the violent protest done by the people of Madagascar. The deal was to sell half of all the agricultural land in Madagascar that is 1.3 million hectares to the South Korean Daewoo. The buyer wanted the land in order to produce palm oil and corn which can be regarded as the sources of biofuels. The protests done in order to stop this deal from closing brought the issue of land grabbing to the light and a number of experts presented their views regarding the issue. The protests were successful and the deal was called off and along with that, the government of Madagasc...