Land and water acquisitions in Africa are highly topical in the development discussions today. The processes of land acquisition and the size of agricultural transferred so far have taken many by surprise. As a result of this fast track, discussions and knowledge about the different aspects of the processes are highly precursory. At the basic levels of information and data there are highly variable data sets. Size of land leased, terms/nature of the contracts and allocation procedures are not well documented for many of the land and water transfers. At the description level, there are diverse perspectives in use. ‘Land grabbing’, ‘land outsourcing’, ‘developmental outsourcing’, ‘land-based investment’, etc, are in use to describe the current land acquisitions in Africa by foreign companies and States.
Here is the documents from the third meeting of this expert group.