the past few years. With this has come a sharp increase in the value of
arable land. Deep topsoil farmland in Iowa has changed hands as high as
$11,000 an acre recently. That’s up from about $6,000 just a few years
ago.
The shortage of arable land has gone global. Africa has seen an
explosion of activity since 2008. How big is the land grab? Who’s doing
the grabbing? It’s hard to tell as there is no central source of
information and many of the transactions are not made public. An outfit
called the Oakland Institute has been compiling information on this. From their June 8 press release:
The scale, rate and negative impact of land deals is alarming. In 2009 alone nearly 60 million ha– an area the size of France
– was purchased or leased in comparison to an average annual expansion
of global agricultural land of less than 4 million ha before 2008.
Consider these three maps. They describe the scope of what has happened in Mali, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia.
The total in these two countries alone is 460k HA or 1.14 million acres. How big is that? Big.
This is an area the size of Rhode Island, It is about 80Xs the size of
Manhattan. But this is small beer. Consider what is going on in one of
the poorest countries in the world, Ethiopia:
The total of 5.3mm acres in just this one country is equal to the size
of New Jersey. It's the same as the combined area of both Connecticut
and Delaware. If you’re thinking of a European comparison this is equal
in size to about half the land of Switzerland, Denmark or the
Netherlands. It’s equal to all of Israel.
Who’s playing in this big land grab? Hedge funds and other speculators
are big, so are a number of US Universities. From The Oakland report:
Western firms, wealthy US and European individuals, and investment funds with ties to major banks such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Surprised that Goldie and JP are involved? I’m not. Some other players:
Several Texas-based interests are associated with a major 600,000 ha South Sudan deal which involves Kinyeti Development, LLC, an Austin, Texas-based "global business development partnership and holding company," managed by Howard Eugene Douglas, a former United States Ambassador at Large and Coordinator for Refugee Affairs.
A key player in the largest land deal in Tanzania is Iowa agribusiness entrepreneur and Republican Party stalwart, Bruce Rastetter, who concurrently serves as CEO of Pharos Ag,
co-founder and Managing Director of AgriSol Energy, CEO of Summit
Farms, and is an important donor to the Iowa State University.
Major
investors in Sierra Leone include Addax Bioenergy from Switzerland and
Quifel International Holdings (QIH) from Portugal. Sierra Leone
Agriculture (SLA) is actually a subsidiary of the UK based Crad-l
(CAPARO Renewable Agriculture Developments Ltd.), associated with the Tony Blair African Governance Initiative.
Are the African countries getting a square deal? Not even close:
In Sierra Leone official regulation requires investors to pay $5 per acre, or $12 per ha, per year.
In Ethiopia, Karuturi initially received land for just $1.25 per ha, the rate was later raised to $ 6.75 per ha. In comparison, rates for Brazil or Argentina are $5,000-6,000 per ha.
I loved this quote from Oakland:
“The
research exposed investors who said it’s easy to make a land deal – that
they could usually get what they want in exchange for giving a poor, tribal chief a bottle of Johnny Walker.”
I suppose that some good could come from all of this. Clearly there is
going to be a very big push for agribusiness in Africa in the coming
years. This would suggest that a new food supply is coming to a hungry
world. It also suggests that there are going to be jobs and opportunity
in the countries involved. I doubt that this will happen in the way the
land grabbers are thinking. I’m sure that the likes of Tony Blair and
Bruce Rastetter will do just fine, but the pensioners and LP interest
are going to get clobbered when history repeats itself in Africa. At
some point the locals are going to say “No”. At $2 an acre and a tax holiday to boot I wouldn’t blame them.
Ironically, the literal bottle of booze has on numerous occasions played interesting roles in matters of life and death, and even the determination of international boundaries in Africa.
In Equatorial Guinea, I would actually take Obiang over his predecessor, or the BP & Jack Straw option, any day of the week. Equal opportunity is not a concept yet embraced anywhere in Africa, which means progress tends to get measured on one of those "long enough time lines."
I lIke that very much...with cold chardonnay and chilled oysters or red beaujolais and snails à la bourgogne.
But more serious stuff here on Africa and North South Paradigm shift:
James Wolfensohn at Stanford
Cobra Verde
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xZiTM9V1bM
US universities in Africa 'land grab'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/08/us-universities-africa-land-grab
And any guess who was behind the "Food Safety" bill that somehow is now radio silent?
I'm telling you folks point blank that the "Food Safety" thingy and this AG land grab are not just kissing cousins. This is incest. It would behoove BK to keep the light shining brightly on this issue.
If you don't think their goal is to shut down small farmers then I have a New Jersey socialite named Lady Forester for you to meet. Think India.
Lol Operation Africa recovery officially began in Benghazi...will now head south. It is now NWO policy to grab territory south of Fuk U shit hemisphere...where the winds don't head, as N America is looking gooky down wind. These guys think of every thing. That's why no Japs were invited to the party in Bilderbergerland. Go long on Chad but don't forget Dad likes to fish in its lake and for Mom look out for Namibia which is pretty and where there is both SA and the Kalahari desert as neighbors. Good place to eat fish and lie on the beach and for Botox you can always hop over to Botswana! They have wonderful farms in a hot place where you don't need anything but cold cream.
When I see Sierra Leone I think De Beers for some reason. Just another innocent rape and pillage private enterprise...blood diamonds?
Its not rape and pillage when done by a corporation. It's nothing when done by the incorporated. Not illegal, not legal, not moral or immoral - but it is profitable!
horseshit.
There are diamonds mined all over the world, why does it only lead to civil war in Africa?
There is no civil war over Argyle or in Canada over these rocks. The war is by Africans against Africans for profits.
Why is it that the Aussies don't behave this way or the Canadians? Stop fucking blaming white people for the failures of Africans
White people don't go to war?
Maybe you should do some research into how the white people behaved during the Australian gold rush before shooting your mouth off.
Historical context motherfucker.
Something is afoot when you start seeing videos like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQ9YsYkAOo
It's Africa- they could have put outthat same video during the middle of the war. Now, in the middle of the peace, the same mother-fucking, father-enslaving, limb-chopping, baby-killing bastards who still run the local diamond businesses are still shipping their wares to Europe, only now on direct flights and now without the pubic stigma.
I've been to West Africa several times, and I can tell you that GS (Goldman Sachs) is heavily involved in the gold and diamond business, so yes, the same motherfuckers.
How Goldman Sachs Screwed Ghana
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=180487
Check out Liberia, some major moves are going on there as I type this comment...think "Rio Tinto Alcan" and the old Lamco Nimba mine. Timber, gold, diamonds, cocoa, bauxite, etc., etc...
EDIT- I was afraid I might have actually missed witnessing a muddy pair of spats in Accra, but no, they fucked them over from the air-conditioned comfort of the City, so I still don't owe any apologies to clowns of 200 West.
The gold market in Ghana is crooked as all hell, in order to be legally exported to a reputable buyer, small miners and huge smugglers first sell their gold to the PMMC (government) which gives them SHITTY DEALS. Since the smugglers from all over West Africa tend to wind up at the PMMC, they in turn give the artisanal miners REALLY SHITTY DEALS.
A lot of the LBMA-certified refiners here in Switzerland would rather touch a diseased whore than gold from Ghana, and then the Arabs are shocked, shocked, when they receive tons of yellow colored dirt at a thousand dollars an ounce.
I like West African gold, if they clean the thing up they could resurrect Mansa Musa's hoard, but I won't go any near anyone in the diamond business - that bunch is beyond redemption.
The lack of capital flow controls is really helping Liberia, but there are opportunities all over West Africa if you know the right people. The newcomers think they will change the place, but I'm guessing there will be some great opportunities on permits that Ministries don't offer renewals on in few years.
The raw land %in Ethiopia surprised me, but I have only been to east Africa for hunts and don't know the business side, and since I prefer tracking on foot I haven't been since the guides I trusted retired.
Oh yeah, the 'ole PMMC. I have a couple of contacts at AngloGold Ashanti up in Obuasi, Ghana .. who introduced me to a couple of reputable small scale miners in the area, but still have to watch out for the local buyers who hate the obruni's !! but you can get around the PMMC if you know the right people.
Here, check out my video I made of AngloGold and a bunch of other stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAaOYjHb9K0
Cool video, that must have taken some work to produce. The gold veins are impressive, but the manioc and fresh fish are making me hungry.
Three years ago a guy from the coast was offering a couple hundred kg/month that bypassed the PMMC, when he said the customs documentation on the initial shipment was attached to shipping crate, but he didn't have a copy in his office that he could send first, I politely passed.
I am interested to see what Satan's Little Helper is going to produce in mining code reforms in Guinea. He could have philanthropic intentions, but given his past record of screwing good leaders running poor countries, I want to see the fine print first, and until then I am assuming there will be a substantial profit motivation buried therein, or in some addition to the 300 permits and 100 projects currently authorized.
I spent about 15 min. making that video a couple of years ago, phew, almost broke a sweat.
The PMMC is not the only game in town, gold falls under "Traditional Exports" in Ghana. There are several licensed and reputable gold exporters in Ghana.
Wait, here's one; http://www.yatir.co.il/eng/
... they like Brandy, sometimes Scotch.
I thought the recently expanded US military command in Africa, AfriCom was all about rare earths, minerals and precious metals, but I stand corrected. I cannot imagine the mindset of the subhuman creature who would do a deal with poor people to steal their land for a bottle of whiskey. Just beyond comprehension.
"Do a deal with poor people for a bottle of whiskey?" What? I am the dumbest person on this site, and even I am not stupid enough to believe that.. These deals are being done from billionare to billionare, the funds of which are deposited straight into Swiss bank accounts of the Mugabe types. Equatorial Guinea guy may be the champ in that dept. "Poor people" are not involved they/we were always cattle anyway.
Land, retirement, human rights, rule of law, there is no difference. It's all the same, removing that which is not yours.
I would bet you are most likely friends, and maybe even family to many of those you profess as subhuman.
They are CEO's, bankers, politicians, and speculators -- and they are everywhere taking... just taking.
I agree, but I do balk from the idea that all bankers, CEOs and speculators are the same. The poverty I saw the first time I went to China in the early 90's was extreme, and the wages our joint venture partners paid our workers were unbelievably small to which I protested on a number of occasions. Until it was pointed out that even though it was insignificant to me, in relation to average Chinese wages, we were paying 10-20 times they would normally get in hard currency to boot. So even though I understand one must have context and reference when you read about a story of this kind, it still shocks me that a subhuman bastard had the gall to buy somebody's land for a bottle of whiskey. Land that would have been used to feed his people. You can call the seller stupid if you want to, but I was taught to believe that smarter, privileged, and advantaged individuals have a moral obligation to those less fortunate than themselves. It's simply shocking.
maybe that's because you have an IQ well above the African average of 70
pieces like this are awesome THANK YOU . this is genuinely informative stuff that no one in the non-MSM is covering. i won't even speak of the MSM anymore.
China is moving into Africa in a serious way, and they have the military and bodies to go in and make sure their land and interests are secured.
I'm all for resuscitating the Mao Mao to make the new Brits shit in their britches.
Here is a good presentation of paradigm shift world wide and its repercussions for Africa :
..James Wolfensohn at Stanford
The British, Belgians, and Dutch didn't like seeing their children butchered and I highly doubt China or Goldman plan to take up residence on their newly acquired plantations.
The US and Euro banksters have been committing genocide in Africa since WW2.
Where were you then, motherfucker?
huh?? what genocide?
There are more africans now than there have ever been.
Those ACTUALLY committing genocide in Africa are africans, Congo War and shit like Rwanda and Darfur
Excuse me, since before WW2; for hundreds of years.
The Chinese build all kinds of infrastructure and don't have Bill Gates "vaccinate" the locals.
zaknik,
Please don't swing a baseball bat at my shuttlecock, especially when we might be on the same team.
Africa has been the whipping post of the entire world for a long time, I'm not condoning anything, merely pointing out that China now has the manpower, military, and capital to rape the continent better than anyone in history.
Africans like the Chinese like the Colombians like the cartels. The Chinese devil's bargain just happens to more appealing than the IMF devil's bargain right now.
zacknick doesn't see that. He wants to inject racism into everything.
Contrary to people who cant see what he told, sure.
The Chinese are killing far more Africans with expat AIDS "injections" than Bill Gates is with vaccine "injections"
Given the well documented Chinese population control measures in the 5-year plans (whether through 1-child, AIDS, toxic pollution, Great Leap starvation). The innocence/negligence of the by-products of their African investments is suspicious, at a minimum.
Sure. Sure. If you understand gangs...
Perhaps you should try visiting Africa some time, and not just reading books about it by authors appealing to your particular ideological proclivities.
"My Malthusian, Capitalist slant tells me that we will only see a repeat of previous history, where the diligent hands gain ascendency, while the negligent hands are subjected. "
Yep. Exploit your own resources or someone will do it for you, and make you a slave (in some form) in the bargain.
A very interesting piece Bruce. This trend will undoubtedly accelerate as there in not one damned thing the locals can do to resist and the world needs more arable land.
Interesting remark. Somehow, on this site, many posters lambast debt. Debt is bad.
Here, we have a situation of people who have saved( for any cause that please people) and people who have consumed.
Unsurprisingly, people who have consumed are trying to eat away the resources other people saved.
Debt is an impressively tool to achieve consumption. Frugal people, people who save in this US driven world, end up being eaten alive based on various rationalizations (like claiming diligent hands vs negligent hands), unable they are as they hit their own environmental limitations in terms of consumption.
It is the same scheme repeated and repeated over by expansionists. It hits the same wall.
African lands are poor from a farming perspective. All people who have passed have failed to start an integrated farming system. Working the land is not enough. One needs every time to bring in another element in order to make the land productive. An issue well known to farmers.
It states that the effort done by expansionists will be short lived in terms of prospects. The easy, highly rewarding expansion has already been performed.
Now only remain those lands that are marginally productive once you have exploited the better soils elsewhere.
Anonymous that is just silly. Zim farms were the most productive in the world. Maybe that is why the world shut them down and killed the farmers. The new land grab farms to be run by the likes of China/India/Saudi will be productive, insanely productive. But, they will be productive in the sense of the British owned farms in Ireland were productive per se, which were productive and profitable during the "Potato Famine."
Sure. Zimbabwe 'breast basket' propaganda. To be fair, propagandists used to scale their propaganda up to the african continent, not the entire world. Safer as for African land, they can benefit from general contempt to negroes to sell their point.
Sure. It is nothing new though. Most people tried their luck on African soil (Europeans, Russians, US citizens, Chinese) All failed to build production without importing additional matter from their own land.
Now, clearly, some people around the world, can allow to subsize production in that part of the world. MEA has enough cash to support losing money on food production.
Food, the ultimate weapon.
I guess you just cant make the same leveraged profits by introducing better farming practices and key infrastructure to a region and assisting its own development eh!?
That's precisely the problem in Africa. Africans get screwed when they try to borrow from TBTF because paper issued against African firms isn't leveragable and paper issued against another TBTF is. When banks took at opportunity cost, every $1M that they take out of the fiat ponzi requires a usurious a interest rate charged to an African firm to yield the same return. The fact that TBTF doesn't have even basic risk management skills outside of quantitative risk measurement doesn't help either.
Sure, you can introduce it and establish it. Then the Mugabe types plunder it. Once a food exporter, Zim is now a starving population. They proudly call it the African way.
Tribalism and limb chopping are just normal for much of the continent. How can you assist the limb choppers? Do you have new methods for dealing with Gen'l Butt Naked?
I wonder how the Romans felt about your face-painting butt-fuck ancestors.
I remember reading that S. Korea had made significant contracts for land leasing in Madagascar, only to be shown the door once a more self-interested government assumed power.
I've been reading scores of books relating to the African situation, which intersects with the global hunger and poverty struggles on a broad basis. My Malthusian, Capitalist slant tells me that we will only see a repeat of previous history, where the diligent hands gain ascendency, while the negligent hands are subjected.
Perhaps the global land grabbers will get the boot once the ownership has been sold out to the pension funds and the right locals are no longer being paid to tow the line.
history suggests that apartheid WRT africans can last indefinitely. Only external pressures cause it to fall
Some good may come of it???
Matrix zombie speak.
This is what all those decades of "vaccination" programs were probably for. The highest ranking CIA agent to publicly out their genocide, John Stockwell (Youtube-Google), said the banksters at the CIA were investigating viruses similar to AIDS and that the CIA should be investigated in this regard.
Now, along with "africom", it all makes sense.
And this guy says it may work out....idiot.