‘Civilizing’ the pastoral frontier: land grabbing, dispossession and coercive agrarian development in Ethiopia

Regassa, Asebe; Hizekiel, Yetebarek; Korf, Benedikt

doi:10.1080/03066150.2017.1420060

Cited by 52 publications

(32 citation statements)

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“…This is consistent with previous research conclusions [68,69]. Some people believe that developing countries are rich in resources and therefore attractive to investment but question the nature of foreign agricultural investment [70,71]. However, our research shows that developed countries are more attractive to enterprises and more capable of meeting investors' investment motives.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

The Potential of Absorbing Foreign Agricultural Investment to Improve Food Security in Developing Countries

Jiang

Chen

2020

Sustainability

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Global food security has been in a severe condition in recent years, especially in developing countries. These countries need sufficient investment to promote their agricultural development. At the same time, the increasing foreign investment in agriculture has aroused widespread concern in the international community. It is controversial whether it is conducive to the host country’s agriculture and social development. In order to study whether developing countries can promote food security by absorbing adequate and effective foreign agricultural investment, we use principal component analysis and select 135 countries (regions) as samples to construct an indicator system from three aspects: investment demand, investment environment and investment motivation. We use cross-section data consisting of the values of the most recent year updated for each indicator. The results show that the demand for foreign investment in developing countries is strong, but overall, it does not have much investment appeal and the investment environment is bad. There is a gap between the expectations and realities in societies in each developing country in terms of the introduction of foreign agricultural investment to promote food security. Governance and capacity building should be strengthened to reconcile their investment needs with investors’ motives. Meanwhile, more inclusive rules for foreign agricultural investment will help it to play its due role in developing countries.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

The Potential of Absorbing Foreign Agricultural Investment to Improve Food Security in Developing Countries

Jiang

Chen

2020

Sustainability

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“…No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return. (United Nations, 2008, p. 6) Regassa et al (2019) indicate that the politics of coercive sedentarization legitimizes pastoralist communities' eviction from grazing land to make way for corporate investors in Ethiopia. Similarly, Gironde and Golay (2015) report how government policies and regulations usually favor investors and violate local communities' human rights-the right to access land and water.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is often their most significant asset and is a safety net even for those who do not depend directly on the land for livelihood. In Ethiopia, LaSLA has dispossessed smallholders and pushed them into labor markets (Regassa et al, 2019). Thus, it has increased unemployment, creating conditions in which investors continuously exploit cheap labor (Shete & Rutten, 2015), bring workers from their home countries (Gingembre, 2015), and create seasonal jobs (Hajjar et al, 2020;Li, 2011).…”

Section: Is Lasla a Development Opportunity Or A Threat To Development?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Can large-scale land acquisition deals improve livelihoods and lift people out of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa? Empirical evidence from Tanzania

Nkansah-Dwamena

2021

J. Agric. Food Syst. Community Dev.

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The recent wave of large-scale land acquisitions or land deals, popularly called ‘land grabbing’ in subSaharan Africa, has provoked vigorous debate over the potential benefits and risks to local people, with results structured by complex policy and institutional context. Land deals present new development challenges and aggravate old vulnerabilities, raising critical questions for investigation. Yet empirical evidence of impacts on local populations is limited, particularly regarding how land deals affect local people’s livelihood assets, strategies, and outcomes. Guided by the sustainable livelihood approach and a quasi-experimental design, I compare livelihoods before and after a land deal project and between an affected and a control community in southwestern Tanzania. I use household surveys, focused group discussions, and key informant interviews to collect data. The ANOVA analyses revealed that the project severely deteriorated households’ natural, financial, and social capital and had far-reaching impacts on well-being in the affected community compared to the control village. The study recommends that African countries should consider (1) scrutinizing land deals and enforcing contracts, (2) conducting rigorous environmental and social impact assessment, (3) strengthening customary land rights and reinforcing compensation policies, and (4) meaningfully involving locals in land deal negotiations. This contribution responds to the deficit in research on land deals’ impacts on livelihoods and well-being and lays the groundwork for future research.

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“…These land grabs have adversely impacted between 200,000 and 500,000 people (Rahmato, 2014). Describing it as economic development, the Ethiopian government has used villagization and agricultural investments to “thicken” the state’s presence—and subsequent capacity to repress—in the country’s hinterlands (Regassa et al, 2019). Adding to the government’s repressive capacity, Ethiopia does not have legislation protecting Indigenous people and has not ratified the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (ILO Convention 169), leaving gaps in legal protections for these groups (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2020a).…”

Section: India–ethiopiamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Transnational Advocacy Against Chinese, Indian, and Brazilian Extractive Projects in the Global South

Shipton

Dauvergne

2021

The Journal of Environment & Development

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Activists in the global South have been navigating two powerful trends since the mid-1990s: intensifying state repression and rising investment in extractive projects from the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS). In this context, this article explores the underlying forces determining the formation, endurance, and power of BRICS–South transnational advocacy networks (TANs) opposed to BRICS-based corporate extraction in the global South. By analyzing activism against Chinese, Indian, and Brazilian extractive projects in Ecuador, Ethiopia, and Mozambique, respectively, the research reveals the critical importance of domestic politics and civil society characteristics in both the BRICS and host states for shaping BRICS–South TANs, including which groups assume leadership, the extent of cross-national cooperation, and the role of nonprofits headquartered in the global North. The findings uncover core reasons for the variable resiliency and capacity of BRICS–South TANs, opening up new avenues of research and offering valuable insights for activists and policymakers.

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‘Civilizing’ the pastoral frontier: land grabbing, dispossession and coercive agrarian development in Ethiopia

Cited by 52 publications

References 50 publications

The Potential of Absorbing Foreign Agricultural Investment to Improve Food Security in Developing Countries

The Potential of Absorbing Foreign Agricultural Investment to Improve Food Security in Developing Countries

Can large-scale land acquisition deals improve livelihoods and lift people out of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa? Empirical evidence from Tanzania

The Politics of Transnational Advocacy Against Chinese, Indian, and Brazilian Extractive Projects in the Global South

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