The Outlook on Farmland Acqusitions

Over the past couple of years, large-scale acquisitions of farmland in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have made headlines in media reports across the world. Dubbed “land grabs” in the media, these investments have kindled much international debate, in which strong positions have been taken on the impacts of such investments on environment, rights, sovereignty, livelihoods, development, and conflict at local, national, and international levels. This briefing note takes stock of the evidence on land acquisitions for agricultural investments, summarising findings from collaborative research that IIED has undertaken since 2008 together with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and, more recently, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).1