Investors in land: Perspectives on investors engaged in transnational land acquisitions in developing countries

Transnational land acquisitions have been a sensitive issue on the international agenda since about 2008. Although this phenomenon is by no means new, there is growing evidence that the scale at which foreign land is being acquired has vastly increased in recent years. , widely considered to be the most extensive source for transnational land deals. This was a remarkable increase given that the expansion of agricultural land represented only 4 million ha at the global level. Some two-thirds of these international land deals took place in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in developing regions. Other sources suggest that even more land is involved in transnational deals. The Land Matrix Partnership, a research initiative led by the International Land Coalition (ILC), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), reports that by November 2011, some 203 million ha – an area the size of Western Europe – had been involved in large-scale land acquisitions since 2001, mostly to international investors (Anseeuw et al., 2011). These deals concern acquisitions of more than 200 ha that involve the conversion from small-scale local farming to large-scale commercial use, and include deals under negotiation but not yet approved (Anseeuw, 2011: 18). At the time of reporting (November 2011), 71 million ha had been confirmed by cross-referencing from multiple sources. Most of the confirmed land deals are for agriculture (78%), with the production of bio-fuels as main objective (around 75%); the remaining 22% being for mining, industry, tourism or forestry (Anseeuw et al., 2011: 4). Given the complexity of many land deals and the fact that the surge in transnational land acquisitions is fairly recent (since 2005, accelerating in 2008 and peaking in 2009), much of the land involved has not yet been effectively converted to new uses, a factor that in part explains the confusion about the tenure status of such land. Whatever the precise statistics, it is clear that this is a major phenomenon. Land deals discussed here may involve transfer of property rights (ownership), or more often, certainly in sub-Saharan Africa, comprise leasehold or concessions for varying periods of time. The consequences in terms of access and productive uses of land are of course much the same