All language subtitles for No.Land.No.Food.No.Life.2013.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-QOQ

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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

protest in foreign language

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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.

hubbub

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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siren

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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hubbub

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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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