Published: 13 Jan 2014
by Ruth Hall
Africa is being heralded as the new frontier for commercial farming but, as governments and investors sign deals, a counter-movement of family farmers is promoting alternative pathways to development. The International Year of Family Farming is now underway, and never before have family farmers in Africa been more under threat.
Africa is being heralded as the new frontier for commercial farming but, as governments and investors sign deals, a counter-movement of family farmers is promoting alternative pathways to development. The International Year of Family Farming is now underway, and never before have family farmers in Africa been more under threat.
Large land deals between African governments and usually foreign (and sometimes domestic) investors have seen swathes of the countryside leased or concessioned, often for as much as 50 to 99 years. From Senegal in West Africa to Ethiopia in the Horn, and down to Mozambique in the South, land considered ‘idle’ and available has changed hands, with profound implications for local people and the environment.
Peasant farmer in Cameroon: invest in African farmers rather than give away their land,
http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23021#sthash.1dwwVSqG.dpuf
