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Sanamadougou and Sahou are two of the

villages whom have been experiencing the

difficulties that come from having their lands seized.

In 2009, Modibo Keiïta, a Malian tycoon, began expanding his

agribusiness into the region.

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While dozens of international corporations are establishing

a foothold in the region, powerful figures from within the

country run agribusiness projects heavily financed

from abroad.

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Foreign investors can avoid

public scrutiny by operating behind the scenes of a local

entrepreneur like Modibo Keiïta, owner of Moulin Moderne de Mali

and its subsidiary, Grand Distributeur Céréalier du Mali.

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hubbub

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Mali has been hit by droughts and food

shortages numerous times over the last decade.

The villages of Sanamadougou and Sahou, given their location in

the most fertile region of Mali, once produced enough food that

they were regularly donating their surplus to famine relief.

But, after the seizure of their farmland, they no longer produce

even enough food for themselves.

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In the face of aggressive land grabs, in 2011,

the National Coordination of the

Peasants' Organizations of Mali

and Via Campesina, the global farmers

coalition, held a conference to develop

strategies for smallholder farmers to keep and regain their

land. Those gathered made a firm commitment to organize together,

by forming cooperatives to acquire land for their members,

developing tools and resources for them to have access to

similar contracts that are being

granted to the large investors,

as well as providing legal support to

those members whose land rights are

being threatened.

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In March 2012, the government set up a commission in response

to the farmers' movement.

However, with the coups d'état later that year, the commission

dissolved. Ironically, the coup d'état has scared away many of

the investors, massively slowing down the

land grabs in the Office du Niger region.

Even so, given the access to fresh water and irrigation

system, Mali remains one of the primary

destinations for land grabbing worldwide.

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Subsistence farming has fed

the world for millennia.

Down through the ages, growers have

transferred their seeds and their knowledge.

But in one short century, agriculture has

gone from a way of life for millions of

small-scale farmers to a global industry

dominated by a dozen agribusiness giants.

Today, governments and corporations buy

up farmland at home and abroad for food

production or for profit, leaving

farmers without land or livelihood.

Advocates claim that industrial

farming will solve the food

crisis. Yet it is creating new problems for us all.

While 70% of all land grabs today occur in

sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin

America, and Central and East Asia are

quickly becoming hot spots for agricultural

land acquisitions.

A key factor in massive land grabs is the

multitude of bilateral and regional trade

agreements, often overseen by international

bodies like the World Trade Organization.

The potential profits drive corporations, both foreign and

national, to acquire as much land as possible to benefit from

these duty and quota-free export agreements.

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Foreign companies are subject to land quotas, but teaming up with

powerful local figures gives them access to much larger

tracts of land.

The Mitr Pohl Group from Thailand owns

70% of the Koh Kong Plantation Company.

The other 30% is held by Taiwanese firm We Wong Corp.

Powerful Cambodian businessman and ruling party senator,

Ly Young Phat, is the director of the Koh Kong Plantation

Company. Locals refer to the company by the senator's name:

Ly Young Phat.

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Before The Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, people owned

their own land. The Khmer Rouge destroyed

all paperwork, including land titles.

In 2001, a new land law allowed people to register land they had

been living on for more than 5 years. But most farmers--

being uninformed, illiterate, and poor--did not register,

so on paper their land belongs to the state.

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Resistance to land grabs and trade agreements continues to

grow throughout the country.

The people on the ground are backed by the

Clean Sugar campaign, an international

boycott pressuring the companies to provide

restitution to displaced land owners.

The surge in land grabs in recent years can be traced to

speculation in food markets, as well as droughts and floods

around the world.

In 2008 with the global economic crisis, food prices skyrocketed.

250 million more people were pushed over the brink, swelling

the total of hungry people to over one

billion. A global food crisis was declared.

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At the same time, banks and other

investors were in trouble.

Seeking more stable investments, they began to take control of

the entire supply chain, from the land where food is grown,

to its production and sale.

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And, to ensure their own food

security, wealthy nations

acquired large tracts of land throughout the global South.

This drove up the value of farmland.

Far from the fields, food commodity prices are set

in financial centres at agricultural

commodity market exchanges, such as the

one in Chicago, the largest in North America.

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hubbub

- There already is quite a bit of speculation

in place for the agriculture markets,

but what we want is for the, you know...

If supply is short and prices are

high, we want that signal to

go to investment, to increase investment

around the world, so that we can increase

production in developing countries.

Certainly, if you see the price of raw agriculture commodities

go up, the value of the land that those commodities are grown

on are going to increase as well. And I think that's what

we've seen over the last 5 years or so. Just the value of the

production has increased, so the value of that farm ground has

increased to represent that greater

value of what's being produced.

We see great opportunity in Africa. There's a lot of good

farm ground in Africa that could be more efficiently produced.

hubbub

- Under pressure from the World Bank and the

International Fund for Agricultural

Development, the Uganda government looked for

projects that would help it

qualify for loans.

One such project is a partnership with

Kenya's BIDCO, the largest private seed

company in Africa. The aim is to increase production of vegetable

oil, through the use of palm oil for domestic use and export.

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While the majority of farmers are customary land owners,

a minority do hold land titles, most of whom accepted BIDCO's

offer of partnership and became oil palm "outgrowers."

However, "outgrowers" must cover the cost of seeds, fertilizer

and labour. To assist them, the government

obtained loans from the United Nations

International Fund for Agricultural Development.

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One of the partners on the project is

Singaporean company WILMAR, the world's largest

producer of biodiesel. In 2012, Newsweek magazine ranked WILMAR

as the least green company in the world, coming in at the 500

slot largely due to the massive amount of deforestation the

company partakes in for the planting of palm oil.

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Large quantities of fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and

fertilizers are applied during the process of planting oil

palm. These agrochemicals are produced and

sold by agricultural GMO giant Monsanto.

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Fish has always been the primary source of

protein for the residents of Kalangala.

Three years ago the price of a Tilapia fish on the island was

35 cents US. Today the same fish costs

a $1.50 US, more than 4 times higher.

The reason for this dramatic increase is twofold.

With reduced access to the land, many former farmers have become

fishermen, leading to overexploitation

of fish for local and global markets

resulting in diminished quantities. Then

there is the water pollution that is

suspected to come from the thousands of

tonnes of chemicals used in planting of the

oil palm.

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Food Sovereignty is people having the right to define their

own food systems. It puts those who produce, distribute and

consume food at the centre of decision making, not the market

forces that dominate the global food system.

But governments and investors don't bear

all the responsibility. Everyone in the

global North is unwittingly involved. Pension funds and

development institutions channel massive

amounts of money into land acquisitions.

Today's industrial food system has not only

created a global food crisis, it is also

a leading cause of the climate crisis.

Agrifood production pumps out nearly half the world's human-

made greenhouse gas emissions, which gives

us all even more reason to maintain an

agriculture system that feeds the planet, not simply the

speculative profits of a few.

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