What a deal! Evict 160k people to get a 800k acre 99 year lease at $1 per acre

Just imagine a government, for private interest group, expels 160,000 people to provide 800,000 acres to a private enterprise for a 99 year lease at about $1 an acre.

I have collected the following information from a few resources that are noted in the text. Quite a few are quotes, partly because I am tired in the evenings and I decided this is not a research paper.  If it becomes one, I’ll adapt it then.

Land Matrix http://landportal.info/landmatrix/get-the-idea is public online database on land deals around the world.  Although some, tied to Iowa, were not listed, but since people volunteer the info, perhaps no one has done it yet.

There few laws in developing countries with laws requiring transparency in land deals. Governments are making deals with little input from people who live or farm on the land. Some of these families have lived on the land for generations.

This also makes it difficult to keep track of the land, investors, or deals.

“The deals in the database amount to 83.2 million hectares (205.6 million acres) of land in developing countries, or 1.7 percent of the world’s agricultural land, according to the Land Matrix. Information on 51 percent of the deals is considered to come from a reliable source, the group said. (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-26/land-rush-continues-deals-target-poor-group-says, April 26, 2012). The deals in the database amount to 83.2 million hectares (205.6 million acres) of land in developing countries, or 1.7 percent of the world’s agricultural land, according to the Land Matrix. Information on 51 percent of the deals is considered to come from a reliable source, the group says” 

"Most of the investors are private companies, accounting for 442 projects covering 30.3 million hectares, followed by state- owned companies with 172 projects and 11.5 million hectares, based on the data. Investment funds were behind 32 projects covering 3.3 million hectares, according to the group.”

Some projects lead to governments evicting people, “local authorities such as village chiefs who often play a key role in allocating land rights appear to frequently fail to act in the community’s interest,” Promises of improved infrastructures are made by investors but it often does not occur, sometimes the investment is given up before any is completed, sometimes started. “Reported land acquisitions in Africa cover the equivalent of about 4.8 percent of the continent’s agricultural area, a territory the size of Kenya” “2/3 of reported deals go to countries with a high prevalence of hunger.” At this time, 70% of the deals occur in 11 countries—Sudan, Mozambique, Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia. Countries in Asia, Central, and South America are also invested in.