Large-scale Foreign Land Acquisitions

Over the last decade, a dramatic rise in commercial agricultural investment has taken place the world over at a rate much higher than previous times. Latest reports indicate that an amount of land well over 80 million hectares have been put up to the global market, much of which has already been effectively leased by investors. Even though this practice of large-scale foreign land acquisitions is fairly a matter of global reach, a staggering 75 percent of this whole business has so far taken place in Africa alone. This simply made the continent a spotlight case and led to serious queries as to how these investments are taking place and what sort of ramifications may follow as a result. Departing from neoliberal and neocolonial discourses, this work has made an attempt to analyze how the stake of Africa in the growing practice of large scale land acquisitions can be looked up on and explained. It is observed throughout this research that to draw sheer conclusions in black and white is not an easy matter. However, it can be argued that the number of social and environmental challenges that have been taken account of necessitate a serious political responsibility and accountability.