This report discusses the implications of large-scale international investment in land for food security
in host countries. Currently, one billion people in middle and low income countries are short of food
and another billion suffer from various forms of malnutrition, despite sufficient global food production.
Prices of all foodstuffs have continued to rise since late 2010, pushing even more people into poverty
and hunger. Yet in recent years an estimated 50-80 millions of hectares of land has been acquired in
middle and low income countries by international investors through lease or purchase. How will this
affect the food security of host, investing, and third countries? Are ―win-win-win‖ solutions possible,
that bring a reasonable return to investors, and to host governments, while meeting local people‘s
needs? The evidence from recent large scale international land acquisitions shows very few such
cases. Rather, it demonstrates many damaging impacts on local people, in terms of their livelihoods,
employment, and environment.
While agricultural investments can be structured in many ways, this report focuses on investments that involve acquiring long-term land rights, through lease or purchase, for the purposes of establishing large scale production, such as plantations. And while research points to a central role of nationals in land acquisition, the report focuses on international investment. This study is concerned principally with the food security needs of countries hosting large-scale international investment in land, especially the impacts on the livelihoods of rural people in the area chosen for investment. However, it is recognised that there may also be other food security issues at stake, for example urban populations in the host country, or people from the investing country.
This report makes explicit the risks for food security, and for the right to food, generated by international investments in land that are actively sought by governments in middle and low income countries. By contrast, a growing number of governments are now restricting foreign investment in land. Bolivia has already done so. Other countries are announcing similar moves, including Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador.
