These are going on all the time, whether its opportunistic developers in the UK or greedy ones in other parts of the world. Just how much has China purchased in the last few years?
However, Oxfam has a campaign going on to highlight some of the inequalities that are going on. In the last 10 years 80 million hectares (size of the UK and France) have been “acquired” in deals worldwide where poor communities have suffered as a result. Companies are signing contracts (mainly secretive) to purchase land deemed ‘unused’ or ‘underdeveloped’. But in many cases poor families live and grow food on that land.
What’s needed is a change in the way companies “invest” in other countries. The rights and needs of poor communities – the people living on the land – should be at the heart of these investments. It’s a scandal that people are forced from their homes without warning and with nowhere else to go. We need to change the way this business is done.
Join the GROW campaign and stand together with small-scale farmers worldwide.
