Outsourcing Agriculture to Africa Part 1/2

OUTSOURCING AGRICULTURE TO AFRICA
What is farm outsourcing?
What is new about these investments?
•Sheer scale: earlier, the big land deals used to be around 100,000 hectares today their size has increased 20 times.
•The farm race worth $20-$30 billion is ten times the emergency World Bank Package for agriculture
•Instead of cash crops, they would grow
Why these investments? OR Why are they doing this?
They are responding to global food price hike. But most of the food importers are rich Arabic States flushed with oil money and can afford higher prices. What they cannot afford are the trade bans by food exporters to ensure their own food security.
In the absence of fertile land and enough water they decided to invest in domestic farming and build their own food stocks.
What are the attractions for the host countries?
Africa is rich in cultivable land and water. Raining capital will ensure new seeds, farm equipment, fertilizers, higher food production and ultimately food security.
Investment brings agro-industrial production, new marketing, better jobs, schools, clinics and roads.
Then, why do people call them land grabbers and neo-colonialists.?

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• African agriculture
• domestic farming
• food security
• drought
• famine
• food import
• export
• hunger
• wheat
• rice
• maize
• tea
• coffee
• biofuel
• Africa
• Sudan
• Saudi Arabia
• China
• Kuwait
• Instablogs

[7VibrationalAlien]

The beginning of African genocide by wealthy foreign money power.

[esiosan]

wish I had a lot of money I'd be investing in Africa

[L9PoloPa]

Are Wheat, and Rice able to generat Biofuels too ? anyone know? thanks

[researchsiempre]

@strattfordcrass what are you even talking about? it's doubtful you know.

[strattfordcrass]

@researchsiempre: If you change "african" for "USA", and "farm outsourcers" for "Corporate bankers" it works in the same way. It's too easy to hand-pick excuses to justify whatever you want, right, outsource taxpayer?

[researchsiempre]

@jeoperdizer the african govts are to blame. they don't care about their people. farm outsourcers are neither land grabbers nor neo-colonialist because they have full support and cooperation from the african leaders getting the payoffs.

[jeoperdizer]

they are land grabbers and neo colonialists because they simply reap the benefits of host nation without giving adeqaute returns.what about local labour laws? environment sustainability MORE IMPORTANTLY LOCAL FOOD SECURITY

[adiethelonewolf]

very nice!

[vittuanimator]

great job