GRAIN releases data set with over 400 global land grabs
http://www.grain.org/fr/article/entries/4479-grain-releases-data-set-with-over-400-global-land-grabs
Today GRAIN is making available a new data set documenting 416 recent, large-scale land grabs by foreign investors for the production of food crops. The cases cover nearly 35 million hectares of land in 66 countries.
This is not an exhaustive list of all land deals. It focuses only on those deals that:
were initiated after 2006,
have not been cancelled,
are led by foreign investors,
are for the production of food crops, and
involve large areas of land.
Deals for sugar cane and palm oil production were included but not those for crops like jatropha or cotton.
The collection of deals provides a stark snapshot of how agribusiness has been rapidly expanding across the globe since the food and financial crises of 2008 and how this is taking food production out of the hands of farmers and local communities.
It confirms that Africa is the primary target of the land grabs, but it also underlines the importance of Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe, demonstrating that this is a global phenomenon.
