Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The land-grab complex
mercantilist food security practices, as foreign governments sponsor offshore agri-
the land-grab is represented as a form of development, insofar as land 'development'
is associated with productivity gains and employment, and indebted governments in
the global South stand to receive foreign investment and hard currency from conver-
sion of their land and forests into agro-export platforms. Biofuels in particular claim
a new role in development. Thus, President Andrés Pastrana of Colombia sought,
in 2001, to atract Malaysian investment in a three million hectare oil palm project
by claiming: 'progress and social development can reah large areas of Colombia
that are ready to join in the cultivation and processing of this primary commodity'
(quoted in Escobar, 2008, p85).
The NGO (non-governmental organization) sector follows a similar logic, ar-
guing that biofuels generate employment through rural diversification. Oxfam (2007,
p5) states in its 'Biofuelling Poverty' report that:
Biofuels need not spell disaster for poor people in the South - they should
instead offer new market and livelihood opportunities. But the agro-industrial
model that is emerging to supply the EU target poses litle in the way of oppor-
tunities and muh in the way of threats.
Its solution, however, is to propose a set of social principles governing the de-
velopment of a biofuels industry. Complementing Oxfam's social vision is the UK
Gallagher Report (2008), whih cautions against displacing food crops, but neverthe-
less suggests that alternative energy crops can simultaneously provide new employ-
ment and local development opportunities to rural communities. By contrast, estim-
ates are that in tropical regions:
100 hectares dedicated to family farming generates 35 jobs. Oil-palm and sugar-
cane provide ten jobs, eucalyptus two, and soybeans a scant half-job per 100 hec-
tares, all poorly paid … Hundreds of thousands [of smallholders] have already
been displaced by the soybean plantations in the “Republic of Soy”, a 50m hec-
tare area in southern Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay, and eastern Bolivia.
Holt-Giménez (2007a, p10)
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