China Acquires African Farmland – And Causes Famine?
Posted: Sunday, July 31, 2011
by Joel Kontinen
http://joelkontinen.blogspot.com/
The French news agency AFP recently reported on the causes of the famine in the Horn of Africa that is threatening to take the lives of twelve million people in Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda. It stated that Germany’s Africa policy coordinator Günter Nookeblamed China for buying up farmland that local small farmers would badly have needed to feed their families.
While Mr.Nooke might have political motives for criticizing China, the problem that Africa is facing is by no means small.
In addition to land, India, Chinaand Saudi Arabia, for instance, are also interested in the continent’s water resources. Recently, New Scientist magazine published an article entitled “African land grab could lead to future water conflicts”, suggesting that the poor will be hurt the most in the ruthless race to use the available water resources of Sub-Saharan Africa.
In what some have characterised as a new form of imperialism, China is not the only non-African country that has set its hope on solving the problem of feeding new mouths by buying up farmland in Sub-Saharan Africa. At least Saudi Arabia, India, Turkey, Italy and France have also shown their interest in the land that they can buy or lease at bargain prices.
According to some estimates, China and other foreign countries have already carved up an area of Africa roughly as big as France. African farmers would badly have needed their land but in a world where money rules, local politicians and landowners might often find the allure of Chinese and Saudi banknotes just too great to resist.
In Old Testament times, Israelite prophets often spoke up against exploiting the have nots. What the poor in Africa would need is a fearless voice, shouting from the wilderness against the schemes of the rich foreigners and greedy local landowners.
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