Landgrab and food crisis hit the Philipines
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Large swathes of Philippine farmland are being snapped up by foreign investors despite unstable domestic food supplies, according to a new report.
The increased activity by foreign investors is a result of the global crises in food and finance, a report by GRAIN claims. Regardless of the ongoing domestic food crisis, which has left many struggling to put food on the table, the Arroyo government has signed off numerous large-scale land deals with foreign investors this summer.
Especially the oil-rich but food-poor Gulf States have been fast at snapping up large tracts of Philippine farmland. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the main buyers, with public and private investors spending millions of dollars on arable land across the country.
The deals are part of a new global “land grab” triggered by rising food prices and sinking land prices. Countries that dependent on food imports are buying up large areas of agricultural land across developing nations.
The recent economic turmoil has led some countries to adopt aggressive policies of land acquisition abroad.According to the report, many Philippine farmers have been swindled out of land rights by international food corporations such as Dole and San Miguel.
Exploitation or cooperation?
The government is “siphoning off fertile and probably contested agricultural lands to rich foreigners”, according to GRAIN. But investors claim that their plans will benefit the Philippine economy by creating new jobs, introducing better farming methods and advancing infrastructures. They insist that their projects will not have a negative effect on the unstable rice supplies in the Philippines.
“The Philippines may be facing a rice shortage, but it can boost the UAE’s stocks of certain other food products, such as bananas, pineapples, corn, vegetables and other farm and poultry items,” said Gil Herico, agricultural attaché for the Middle East.
Hidden details
Details of the deals remain unknown. It is unclear whether the recent food investment projects will produce solely for export or also provide benefits for the local population. The amount of land that has already been sold off also remains unknown.
Experts have called for greater transparency in the matter of foreign acquisition of agricultural land. But the government and foreign investors such as the General Trading and Food Processing Company continue to keep a tight lid on their dealings.
Many of the deals were approved by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as part of the government’s campaign to boost the production of Halal products. But critics say that, in effect, the sales could undermine the position of local farmers.
