The region of French West Africa where I was digging wells as a Peace Corps Volunteer, was experiencing the worst drought of the century. I would occasionally ask villagers why they wouldn't relocate to the more fertile regions in the southern, more tropical region of the country. Life could be better.
The answer was always the same: “At least, we have our land. If we move, we have nothing.”
Even in many of the least developed countries, there is a basic understanding that land is valuable – regardless of its condition.
Yet, we also know that everything has its price.
There is a common theme throughout most of the articles in this post on the sale of African land. Land is worth more than gold! Land ownership does make a tangible difference!
If that is true in developing countries, then it is even more true in countries where food production must keep pace with rapidly expanding populations. This has led to the emerging interest by many countries to purchase land in Africa either as a hedge against waning agricultural productivity in their home countries or in anticipation of future domestic and global needs.
Put differently: the rush to buy "under-developed" but high-potential farmland in Africa reflects a growing recognition that domestic agricultural productivity in many of the more populous nations is being pushed to its limits. In China, Britain, Germany, Russia, India, Korea, there are areas where irrigation levels can no longer be sustained - can no longer provide the reliable moisture necessary to maintain agricultural production levels, or, for simple business reasons, these countries see an emerging global move towards biofuel production.
Even if there is sufficient rainfall and/or irrigation, soil conditions may have deteriorated. The most common soil problems are salinization, sodification, and alkalization. To understand the importance and impact of land degradation, the following links will provide an overview of these problems:
ENVironmental ASsessment of Soil for mOnitoring/ENVASSO: Salt affected soils cover extensive areas on each continent of the Earth. Salinity, alkalinity and sodicity are among the most important and widespread soil degradation processes and environmental/ecological stresses in the biosphere. They limit agro-ecological potential and represent a considerable ecological and socio-economical risk for sustainable development.
Sustainable Agriculture/Australia: The continuing drought in Australia has kept that country in the news. The following discusses the soil issues and one company’s effort to improve soil condition: By way of background, sodicity is an environmental issue that adversely affects soils by causing clay particles to swell and disperse. Swelling and dispersion of the clay minerals, in turn, clogs soil pores and prevents nutrient, air and water transport. The resultant water-logging, lack of aeration, and poor nutrient access, leads to poor plant growth in affected soils. In addition, the dispersible clays set hard on drying to make root penetration difficult, and slake on wetting to exacerbate soil erosion. Between 25 and 30% of Australian soils are sodic.
Hydrogeochemical modelling of soil...: Abstract: Hydrogeochemical modelling of soil salinisation, alkalinisation and sodification: Presentation and calibration of the PASTIS model. Irrigation allowed improving agriculture productivity in arid regions. However, in some places, irrigation was at the origin of gradual changes in soil physicochemical properties. These changes led after several years of cropping to losses in fertility. Such salinisation processes have been noticed in irrigated areas of the Sahelian African sub-region as in Mali, Senegal and Niger. Avoiding salinisation requires properly understanding and quantifying the relationships between water regime and the chemical processes occurring within a soil profile.
Now that there is a better understanding of the importance of soil and water (irrigation), there is another simple equation that is useful to provide another perspective to this relationship: Food = Virtual Water.
Water quality and the misuse of water (quantity) will ultimately affect first, soil quality and eventually, food production.
Now for some links to the subject in question - to get focused - on what exactly is creating all of the noise.
The subject: Foreign Land Ownership of Africa.
Reuters/Africa News Blog: Selling Africa by the Pound (01/2009)
IPS/Inter-Press Service: Africa - Could Regulation Ease Fears Over Land Grab? (10/2009)
SolveClimate: Biofuels Watch - Africa Land-Grab Deals Questioned (05/2009)
Some of the ultimate questions that African countries must ask are:
Should Africa be handing out its land to foreign investors and will the local people and countries involved be the ones to benefit?
Can governments ensure there are well-negotiated policies to govern land?
Can governments ensure that smallholder farmers will be prevented from losing their livelihoods?
Can governments ensure against the creation of monoculture and big plantations?
There are probably many more questions that will need to be answered. Take note, the move to acquire land in Africa will not abate – perhaps, until it is too late.
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