Biofuels, Land Grabbing and Food Security in Africa

Author: Prosper B. Matondi
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1848138814
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Book Description
The issue of biofuels has already been much debated, but the focus to date has largely been on Latin America and deforestation - this highly original work breaks fresh ground in looking at the African perspective. Most African governments see biofuels as having the potential to increase agricultural productivity and export incomes and thus strengthen their national economies, improving energy balances and rural employment. At the same time climate change may be addressed through reduction of green house gas emissions. There are, however, a number of uncertainties mounting that challenge this scenario. Using cutting-edge empirical case studies, this knowledge gap is addressed in a variety of chapters examining the effects of large-scale biofuel production on African agriculture. In particular, 'land grabbing' and food security issues are scrutinised, both of which have become vital topics in regard to the environmental and developmental governance of African countries. A revealing book for anyone wishing to understand the startling impact of biofuels and land grabbing on Africa.

From Global Land Grabbing for Biofuels to Acquisitions of African Water for Commercial Agriculture

Author: David Ross Olanya
Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute
ISBN: 9789171067296
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 42

Book Description
Expansion of biofuel investment in Africa has been supported by indebted poor governments because of perceived potential benefits such as sustainable energy development, support to poor farmers, development of rural economies and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the intensity of the biofuels political economy in poor countries worsens inequality for the vulnerable poor. This is evidenced by large-scale land acquisitions in Africa for biofuel and crop production primarily for foreign consumption - food, animal feeds and energy crops. The search for land in African countries has been triggered by growing concerns over food and energy security in developed countries following the global food crisis of 2008. Moreover, these recent developments in large-scale land acquisitions in Africa are not a new phenomenon, but represent the renewal of old practices in commercial agriculture, which is either conducted through purchases or long-term leases. In addition to biofuel expansion, this study notes that current large-scale land acquisitions in sub-Saharan Africa have been further driven by demands to access water resources for other commercial agricultural crops. The land purchases or leases automatically guarantee access to African water. This demand for water is a response to climate change: most industrialists believe that acquiring land near a main water reservoir will guarantee future agricultural potential. Few analyses have been done on the land-water access nexus. This article considers recent developments in large-scale land acquisitions in Africa in terms of water security for commercial agriculture to safeguard the production of agricultural crops with a large water footprint. Using political economy analysis, this article examines national policy on these acquisitions, the rights accorded to foreign investors and how land acquisitions undermine indigenous rights to the common resources that have been the main source of livelihood in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Global Biofuel Production and its impact on the Land Tenure of the Rural Poor

Author: Martina Schöb
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 365641288X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 34

Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Ethnology / Cultural Anthropology, grade: 1, University of Luzern (ethnologisches Seminar), course: Land Grabbing, language: English, abstract: The global biofuel production has been rapidly increasing since 2007-08 and with it the new demand for land, which has a strong focus on Africa as it has weak land rights protection. Most foreign investors, who intend to buy land for the biofuel production take advantage of the lack of proper property rights in several African countries. Therefore, many of the rural poor, who depend on land for their living, suffer from expulsion or dispossession. In summary, it can be said that the formalization of land titles only serves the poor, when secondary rights as for example for women, herders or migrants, are respected by the state or the foreign investors when allocating, buying or leasing land. In addition, during the processes of allocating, buying or leasing land, the state as well as the foreign investor should give whole local communities (not only local elites) the possibility to negotiate over the future use of the land they tilled for years. From the four land tenure reforms outlined, where land based wealth and power transfers occurs, the two best possible solutions, which serve the poor, would be the redistribution and the distribution of land. In my opinion, the preferable one of this two solutions is distribution as this solution is less conflict-prone. In the present paper two case studies are used to show how (as in the case of Ghana) local elites or foreign investors make decisions without consulting local communities or, that simply changing laws or introduce policies is not enough to protect the land rights of the affected local communities (as in the case of Mozambique). Even if local communities are compensated for loss of their land rights, many agreements between communities and investors emphasize one-off compensations rather than long-term benefit sharing, such as job creation or leasing incomes and the agreements usually involve very small payments compared to for example the value of the forest concessions acquired by investors.

Africa's Contemporary Food Insecurity

Author: Nkwazi N. Mhango
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781779314840
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Land is ubiquitous but exceptionally precious, no-frills, and one-off for all beings past, present, and future though not all appropriately appreciated for its nonpareil significance and sacredness. Nevertheless, currently, African corrupt, credulous, and closed-minded rulers are blindly and bald-facedly dishing land out in this toxic leasing by enacting another scramble for Africa under a putrid façade of investment, a crime against humanity revolving around coloniality, corruption, and racism. China, India, Petro-rich-with-inarable-land Middle East Countries, and western conglomerates are invading Africa to produce biofuels and food for their home populaces for yet another land and food colonisation. Contemporary land grabs aggravate Africa's food and national in/ security, famishment, and effluence thereof. S/he who cannot feed her/himself is a dangerous laughingstock. This book addresses the crime and proposes what Africa must do to avert self-inflicted wounds resulting from fake and rose gambits like job creation, tax bases, and investment for development. Land is a life giver and is uniquely sacred as such nobody should dish it out or grab it like nobody's business. The cardinal argument is that Africa must enable its people to till the land it is dishing out to produce and export food to those now grabbing its land. This is the only sensible solution any level-headed person can think of and apply.

Biofuels in Africa

Author: Donald Mitchell
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821385178
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Book Description
A new economic opportunity for sub-Saharan Africa is looming large: biofuel production. Rapidly rising energy prices are expected to remain high for an extended period of time because of the increasing demand in prospering and populous countries such as China and India, the depletion of easily accessible supplies of crude oil, and concern over global climate change. As a result, there is renewed interest in biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels. Africa is uniquely positioned to produce these new cash crops for both domestic use and export. The region has abundant land resources and preferential access to protected markets with higher-than-world-market prices. The rapid growth in the demand for transport fuels in Africa and high fuel prices create domestic markets for biofuels. The European Union and the United States have approved legislation that requires large increases in the consumption of biofuels over at least the next decade. Imports are expected to be needed to meet these mandates, thus opening the door to African and other developing countries that can produce biofuels or feedstocks for biofuels competitively. Expanding the production of crops for biofuels will affect the entire rural sector in Africa as resources are shifted away from traditional crops and the prices of all agricultural commodities rise. Even smallholders can participate in producing biofuel crops. To promote the sustainability and significant contribution of this enterprise, Biofuels in Africa provides guidance in formulating suitable policy regimes, which are based on protecting the rights of current land users, developing revenue-sharing schemes with local communities, safeguarding the environment and biodiversity, expanding institutional capacity, formulating new regulations and procedures, and emulating best practices from experienced countries. This volume will be of value to anyone interested in biofuels, including policy makers, development practitioners, private investors, researchers, and the general public. Now that African countries are trying to significantly increase their energy supply systems, biofuels are an attractive option using both dedicated crops and agricultural waste. This book provides guidance for them to develop a suitable policy regime for a significant contribution by biofuels. Professor Ogunlade R. Davidson, Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Sierra Leone Biofuels in Africa is a sorely needed resource for our understanding of the problems of expanding biofuels production in Africa. A high point of the book is a description of the projects that were started in several countries. A very useful book! Professor Jos Goldemberg, University of S o Paulo, Brazil As Africa most likely will play the same role for global biofuels as the Middle East does for oil, this comprehensive book on African biofuels should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in either African development or biofuels. The book captures the essence of long-term drivers and opportunities as well the complex challenges for investors and society of this huge emerging industry. Per Carstedt, Executive Chairman, EcoEnergy Africa

Africa’s Contemporary Food Insecurity

Author: Nkwazi Mhango
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1779314795
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
The contribution works toward achieving its mentality-changing goals by essentially providing Afrikentication lessons radiating principally around the theme: Making African education relevant to African liberation and progress. The linchpin of the book is that we Africans truly need to cease dangling uselessly and reclaim our authentic roots if we have to independently move forward. This is an objective we clearly cannot correctly achieve when our intellectuals and universities (among others) who are supposed to be furnishing our liberation movements with sane policy and thought-leadership do continue in the same old colonial way of sheepish ‘theorising’ that excessively indulges in obliterating genuine African perspectives. Indigenous African education is the way to go! An inevitable rethinking in education, culture, and religion in Africa is recommended, basing on innovation and critical thinking which are sure highlights of communalism, which is a defining feature of the African way of life. The book thus harps on the need to recentralise African values and philosophy in the freedom and governance of the continent, as well as stressing the dire need for unity and visionary, dedicated and patriotic leadership.

Handbook of Land and Water Grabs in Africa

Author: John Anthony Allan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1857436695
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 514

Book Description
Four other themes will addressed: politics, economics, the environment and the history of land investments in sub-Saharan Africa.

Harnessing Land and Water Resources for Improved Food Security and Ecosystem Services in Africa

Author: Oku, Effiom E.
Publisher: United Nations University Institute for Natural Resourc
ISBN: 9988633971
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Book Description
Africa is endowed with rich land and water resources, which significantly contribute to the development of many economies on the continent. However, land degradation and water pollution remain major challenges facing many African countries. Harnessing Land and Water Resources for Improved Food Security and Ecosystem Services in Africa examines challenges facing land and water resources management in Africa and explores possible measures to improve food security and reduce poverty on the continent. The book is a compilation of research papers, written by eminent researchers and scientists from renowned Universities and reputable organisations in Ghana, Ethiopia, USA, South Africa, Nigeria, the Netherlands and Indonesia. Its main objective is to draw attention to the impact of human activities on land and water resources and the need for the sustainable management of Africa's ecosystem services to improve livelihoods. The individual chapters present relevant case studies on the effects of water and land management practices including urban waste water uses, land grabbing and climate change issues, so as to draw lessons from best practices that can be adopted to mitigate their efforts on food security and the well-being of the African population. The monograph concludes with recommendations on the appropriate strategies for managing wastelands to meet Africa's green energy needs.

Global Land Grabs

Author: Marc Edelman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317569512
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Book Description
Since the 2008 world food crisis a surge of land grabbing swept Africa, Asia and Latin America and even some regions of Europe and North America. Investors have uprooted rural communities for massive agricultural, biofuels, mining, industrial and urbanisation projects. ‘Water grabbing’ and ‘green grabbing’ have further exacerbated social tensions. Early analyses of land grabbing focused on foreign actors, the biofuels boom and Africa, and pointed to catastrophic consequences for the rural poor. Subsequently scholars carried out local case studies in diverse world regions. The contributors to this volume advance the discussion to a new stage, critically scrutinizing alarmist claims of the first wave of research, probing the historical antecedents of today’s land grabbing, examining large-scale land acquisitions in light of international human rights and investment law, and considering anew longstanding questions in agrarian political economy about forms of dispossession and accumulation and grassroots resistance. Readers of this collection will learn about the impacts of land and water grabbing; the relevance of key theorists, including Marx, Polanyi and Harvey; the realities of China’s involvement in Africa; how contemporary land grabbing differs from earlier plantation agriculture; and how social movements—and rural people in general—are responding to this new threat. This book was published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

New Challenges to Food Security

Author: Ian Christoplos
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136777601
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 378

Book Description
Food security is high on the political agenda. Fears about societal insecurity due to food price increases and hunger, grave scenarios regarding the effects of climate change and general uncertainty about the impacts of investments in biofuels and so-call “land grabbing” on food prices and availability have meant that food security is now recognised as being a multifaceted challenge. This book is unique in that it will bring together analyses of these different factors that impact on food security. This volume will describe a range of different perspectives on food security, with an emphasis on the various meanings that are applied to food security “crisis”. The challenges to be reviewed include market volatility, climate change and state fragility. Analyses of responses to food security crises and risk will cover rural and urban contexts, arenas of national policy formation and global food regimes, and investment in land and productive technologies. This book is unique in two respects. First, it takes a step back from the normative literature focused on specific factors of, for example, climate change, agricultural production or market volatility to look instead at the dynamic interplay between these new challenges. It helps readers to understand that food security is not one discourse, but is rather related to how these different factors generate multiple risks and opportunities. Second, through the case studies the book particularly emphasises how these factors come together at local levels as farmers, entrepreneurs, consumers, local government officials and others are making key decisions about what will be done to address food security and whose food security will be given priority. The book will explore how food production and consumption is embedded in powerful political and market forces and how these influence local actions.