The study examines the risks and opportunities arising from foreign investment in land for food or resource production in developing countries. It focuses on media reports of overseas land investments to secure food supplies between 2006-2009, which are surprising in number and scale.
The data in the report suggests the largest and most common overseas investments are bilateral agreements between governments, with Africa by far the continent most invested in. Within Africa, Sudan is the country which has received the greatest attention. The Egyptian government has secured Sudanese land to grow a colossal two million tonnes of wheat a year.
Asia is the other continent favoured by governments, with Vietnam joining China and the Gulf states as an investor nation there by way of two 100,000 hectare rubber projects in neighbouring Laos and Cambodia.
Land investment growth has its root in a number of factors, the report states. Mounting pressure on "natural resources, water scarcity, export restrictions imposed by major producers when food prices were high, and growing distrust in the functioning of regional and global markets" have pressed countries which cannot meet their own needs to look abroad.
Globally, China and Gulf States such as Saudia Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar are among the most active. The research data reveals that as well as having burgeoning populations and limited food-producing capacities, these states have large fiscal reserves and the financial muscle to invest internationally.
Investment has not only occurred at the intergovernmental level, however, with the report describing how investments were made by private firms and bodies in deals with governments or other firms. Prominent among these are investments by biofuels companies and investment banks from Europe and America as well as hefty agricultural investment funds from Bahrain and Qatar with at least $1bn of capital.
Von Braun and Meinzen-Dick point out that there are positive and negative aspects to "land grabbing" in developing countries.
On the one hand, it has the potential to invigorate food and resource production and is a source of "much-needed investment into agriculture and rural areas," they argue.
However, investments will only benefit ordinary people if they included and not exploited, the report maintains, expressing "concerns about the impacts on poor local people, who risk losing access to and control over land on which they depend".
The authors conclude that such land deals must be "designed in ways that will reduce the threats and facilitate the opportunities for all parties involved" if they are to benefit both global food security and international development.
