World stocks of wheat, rice and other staples are low, partly as a result of drought and climate change. As shortages emerge, key producers have reduced exports to feed their own people. Countries such as China (with large populations relative to food supplies) are seeking security, and even countries such as Saudi Arabia are looking to reduce costs, according to the Chicago Tribune ("Global grain rush under way as rich nations snap up farmland overseas", December 14, 2008).
As a type of insurance strategy, Libya is leasing wheat-growing land in the Ukraine, and many countries are investing in Africa. These are examples of a global trend, and financial firms are supporting the ventures. There is a growing consensus that food and biofuels are the new oil, and farmland is now a strategic asset.
Investing In Developing Countries
Some analysts consider that any investment in poorer countries can be a good thing. According to Peter Hartmann of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (quoted in New Scientist) , foreign money can build much needed infrastructure, such as ports and roads. It can also be a means of technology transfer to local people ("Rich countries carry out '21st century land grab'", December 4, 2008). However, any advantages to the developing nation will depend on the nature of the agreement. For example, South Korea's Daewoo corporation is leasing 3.2 million acres of land in Madagascar for maize and palm oil production, but planning to hire South African workers to do the work.
Land and Power in the Modern World
Quite apart from the question of justice (land leases by affluent nations that have given up their own prime land to urbanisation and in many cases paid farmers not to produce), other ethical issues emerge. James Vernon in his book Hunger: A Modern History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007) notes that the human cost of 19th-century colonialism included "millions of lives lost to...famines. The economic modernization of Britain...depended on the underdevelopment of its colonial economies". Observing that there is a death somewhere in the world every 3.6 seconds from hunger or hunger-related diseases, he comments that "how [hunger has] hurt has always been culturally and historically specific".
Although in the latest deals investors have claimed to target "underutilised" land, there is a question as to whether the money and technology could better be used to provide food for people in poor countries themselves. Also, according to New Scientist (quoting Michael Taylor of the International Land Coalition), such land is often used at least part of the year for grazing or low-intensity farming.
"Marginal" Land and the Environment
In fact, pastoralism and shifting cultivation might be a better use for the land. Intensive cultivation requires vast quantities of water (a globally scarce resource) and can "mine" the soil. David Grigg in his book The World Food Problem 1950-1980 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989) observes that much of the total agricultural area in Africa is poor grazing land, unsuited to large export-oriented farms.
The impact of the current world financial crisis on land investments in developing countries (what will happen to the price of food and biofuels, and whether such deals will become more or less attractive) is uncertain. However, the worldwide recession is unlikely to promote a vigorous discussion of the ethical or environmental issues around "21st-century colonialism".
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