Implications of Land Grabbing on Sustainable Food Systems

Abstract

<jats:p>Land is one of the most valuable assets required for agricultural production. In Africa, smallholder agricultural producers are faced with a lot of challenges that have highly impacted on productivity and sustainable food systems. The global demand for agricultural land for food and bio-fuel production has increasingly led to the emergence of land grabbing after the 2007-08 food price crisis. The rural poor are the victim of land grabbing as they are faced with declining farmlands, low income generation, and loss of livelihood activities. These have affected the food security status of the rural poor as farmlands are taken from them. The proponents of land grabbing revealed that developing countries are expected to benefit from investments inflow on grabbed land, development of infrastructure, increased income generation, and job creation. They argue that investment in agriculture is necessary to stimulate agricultural production; however, this situation has brought negative effects as most investors failed to keep their end of the transaction on land acquisition deals. </jats:p>