Land Rights and the Land Rush: Findings of the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project

Land Rights and the Rush for Land

Findings of the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project

Author: Ward Anseeuw, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo Cotula, and Michael Taylor

Year of publication: 2011

Country: Global

This report, authored by leading land experts, is the culmination of a three-year research project that brought together forty members and partners of ILC, CIRAD and IIED to examine the characteristics, drivers and impacts and trends of rapidly increasing commercial pressures on land.

The report strongly urges models of investment that do not involve large-scale land acquisitions, but rather work together with local land users, respecting their land rights and the ability of small-scale farmers themselves to play a key role in investing to meet the food and resource demands of the future.

The conclusions of the report are based on case studies that provide indicative evidence of local and national realities, and on the ongoing global monitoring of large-scale land deals for which data are subject to a continuous process of verification.

But while research and monitoring will continue, this report draws some conclusions and policy implications from the evidence there is already.

Documents:

Land Rights and the Rush for Land - Full report

Land Rights and the Rush for Land - English summary

Les droits fonciers et la ruée sur les terres - Résumé en français

Los derechos a la tierra y la fiebre por ella - Resumen en español

Organisations professionnelles agricoles et institutions financières rurale

Organisations professionnelles agricoles et institutions financières rurales. Construire une nouvelle alliance au service de l'agriculture familiale. 


Doligez, F., Wampfler B., Lapenu C.SupAgro, Oct. 2010. 146p.


Consulter le document (PDF - 2 317,0 Ko)




Ce guide opérationnel se veut un outil d’appui à la construction du partenariat entre organisations professionnelles agricoles et rurales, et institutions financières. Il est issu de travaux de recherche, d’appui au développement et de formations conduits principalement en Afrique de l’Ouest et à Madagascar dans les dix dernières années, avec des éclairages développés plus récemment sur l’Asie du Sud-Est et l’Amérique latine :

• Programme de recherche CIRAD-CERISE «Quelle contribution de la microfinance au financement des agricultures familiales? » (1997-2002)
• Formation-action pour l’appui à la construction de partenariats entre les organisations professionnelles agricoles et les institutions financières. Programme conduit par l’IRC Montpellier SupAgro et CERISE en lien avec les OPA du Niger (2004-2009).
• Quelle stratégie de financement des OP du commerce équitable ? Projet Agrofine/Max Havelaar
• CERISE (2006-en cours).
• Diagnostic des OP du Cambodge (MAECNEARC, S. Lemeilleur, 2005 ; C. Bernard, 2006 ; C. Chevrier, 2007).
• Étude d’impact des Caisses d’épargne et crédit agricole mutuel (CECAM) de Madagascar (CIRAD 2003-2007).

Ce guide a été conçu et élaboré par l’IRC (Institut des régions chaudes) de Montpellier SupAgro avec l’appui de l’IRAM (Institut de recherche et d’application des méthodes de développement),

Agrimonde. Scenarios and Challenges for Feeding the World in 2050

A book summarizing the report on the Agrimonde foresight study initiated by CIRAD and INRA on global agriculture and food between now and 2050.


The world will be able to feed the predicted 2050 population of nine billion people, according to two French agricultural research organizations. In a joint report published today, they lay out findings gleaned from 2006 to 2008 that could overturn some current assumptions about the state of global farming.

The report, titled Agrimonde, is published by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and the Centre for International Cooperation in Agronomic Research for Development (CIRAD), both headquartered in Paris. It contains some surprise findings on Africa and other regions — the latest results from an ongoing study by the two research agencies.

Agricultural productivity in Africa doubled between 1961 and 2003 — a finding that overturns most assumptions "and is one of the most surprising results of our work", Patrick Caron, CIRAD's director-general for research and strategy.
Reference: Nature News 12/11. Future of food could be bright

Agrimonde : Agricultures et alimentations du monde en 2050 Résultats de la prospective Agrimonde. Colloque organisé par l'Inra et le Cirad à Montpellier le 9 octobre 2009. La prospective Agrimonde, initiative conjointe de l’Inra et du Cirad, est un outil de réflexion collective sur les enjeux alimentaires et agricoles mondiaux. Introduction et Présentation des resultats d'Agrimonde (débat avec la salle) Gérard Matheron, directeur général du Cirad Sandrine Paillard (Inra), Bruno Dorin (Cirad), Sébastien Treyer(AgroParisTech > Voir la vidéo Tables rondes et échanges avec la salle Les systèmes alimentaires mondiaux et les comportements alimentaires Présidée par Patrick Caron (Cirad) > Voir la vidéo Les options pour l'intensification écologique Présidée par Bernard Hubert (GIP Ifrai) > Voir la vidéo La régulation des échanges commerciaux internationaux Présidée par Hervé Guyomard (Inra) > Voir la vidéo Conclusion et perspectives Par Marion Guillou, Présidente directrice générale de l'Inra > Voir la vidéo

AGRO2010 The International Scientific Week around Agronomy

August 29th-September 3rd. International Scientific Week around Agronomy AGRO2010. Inventer une nouvelle agriculture conciliant respect de l’environnement et satisfaction des besoins alimentaires et énergétiques. C’est autour de cette question centrale que se sont réuni 550 chercheurs en agronomie de 52 pays dans le cadre d’Agro2010, à Montpellier. Une manifestation co-organisée par Agropolis International, les organismes de recherche et d’enseignements agronomiques français et l’Association française d’Agronomie (AFA).

"Lors d'Agro 2010, le grand congrès international de la société européenne d'agronomie, presque toutes les communications portaient sur l'agroécologie", confirme Michel Griffon, directeur adjoint de l'Agence nationale pour la recherche. Utiliser les processus biologiques, associer cultures, arbres et élevage dans l'agroforesterie, jouer sur la diversité des cultures pour se protéger des ravageurs, développer la fumure organique plutôt que chimique : tels sont les principes mis en avant par l'agronomie, qui ne veut plus se reposer sur l'amélioration des semences et l'augmentation de l'usage des engrais et pesticides.

Cette nouvelle démarche est reprise par un acteur important de la Révolution verte des années 1960 : le Groupe consultatif pour la recherche agricole internationale (CGIAR), qui met en avant l'expérience du "jardin potager africain" développée au Bénin et au Niger. Elle associe technologie d'irrigation au goutte-à-goutte, cultures de légumes combinées avec des arbres fruitiers, partage communautaire des frais engagés.

On day 4 (Thursday 4th of September) a seminar was organised around "Innovation and decision support in agriculture: Which Roles and Partnership for Research?": This symposium illustrated and analysed how research in agronomy can contribute to a sustainable agricultural progress, in both African and European contexts, through various types of deliverables and through diverse modes of interaction between research, farmers and their organizations, extension services and agro industry.

Parallel session “Africa”:

• Entrepreneurship as driver of a 'Self-Organizing System of Innovation': the case of NERICA in Benin (Dalohoun Daniel Nougbegnon, Africa Rice Center, Benin)
• From Labs to Farms: Agronomic Research Outcomes Transfer (Marie Chave, INRA, French West Indies)
• Systems of vegetable growing in periurban area of Mahajanga. Determinants of agricultural practices of organic fertilizer for technical innovation (Heriniaina Ramahefarison, Laboratoire des RadioIsotopes, Madagascar)
• Opportunities for enhancing crop yield in drought-prone south-east Zimbabwe (Chrispen Murungweni, Wageningen University, The Netherlands)

References:
Le Monde 03/09 L'agriculture africaine veut faire sa révolution verte
AGRO2010 website The International Scientific Week around Agronomy

Announcement: Seminar: Innovation and decision aid in agriculture : which roles of research and which partnerships

Thursday September 2nd. Seminar: Innovation and decision aid in agriculture : which roles of research and which partnerships. This symposium will illustrate and analyse how research in agronomy can contribute to a sustainable agricultural progress, in both African and European contexts, through various types of deliverables and through diverse modes of interaction between research, farmers and their organizations, extension services and agro industry.


The conference aims to illustrate and analyze, for a varied range of socio-economic and agricultural situations, the place and the role of agronomic research in the processes of innovation in the framework of Sustainable Development. Above all, the conference will identify and discuss:

• The nature and the form of the deliverables through which research in agronomy contributes to innovation: new techniques, new cultural practices or cropping systems, but also new decision support systems applicable at various space scales and organization levels;
• The conditions and steps through which these various types of deliverables are elaborated (modelling, experimentations of various types, inquiries, co construction of questions, etc.), and the types of subjacent knowledge;
• The modes of interaction efficient between research and the actors (sometimes new) of innovation: farmers and their organizations, extension services, companies and organizations concerned by the inputs (agro supplies) and outputs (collecting and transformation of the production) of the farms ;
• The ways in which public policies and agronomic research may interact for stimulating sustainable innovation processes, in agriculture.

Reference:

Provisional program - Download French version (pdf file)
It is possible to register only for this seminar by sending back the specific registration form to the Association Française d'Agronomie
Download the registration form

Sénégal : quinze institutions réunies pour un partenariat durable en recherche agronomique

14 et 15 Décembre 2009. Dakar, Senegal. Partenaires de longue date, le Cirad et l’Isra ont organisé pour la première fois,  une réunion de concertation regroupant tous leurs partenaires sénégalais œuvrant dans le domaine de la recherche, de l’enseignement supérieur ou du développement : CNRA, universités, organismes de développement, OP, organisations régionales, secteur privé, etc.

L’heure n’est plus au cloisonnement institutionnel mais bien à l’ouverture et à l’intégration. Ce mode de concertation nouvellement expérimenté a pour finalité de contribuer à la construction de partenariats durables autour de questions de recherche globales. Il doit permettre de faire le point sur les coopérations entre les différentes institutions, de présenter les stratégies scientifiques de chacun des partenaires et d’identifier les thématiques d’intérêt commun. 


Les travaux qui durant deux jours se sont déroulés au sein de groupes, ont porté d’une part, sur la recherche, les systèmes d’innovation et la vulgarisation, et d’autre part sur l’enseignement et la formation. Ils ont permis d’identifier des idées de programmes et/ou projets qui devront ultérieurement faire l’objet de développement par les différentes parties prenantes. Ces idées de programmes et/ou de projets s’inscrivent à la fois dans les orientations stratégiques du Cirad mais également dans celles du Système national de recherches agro-sylvo-pastorales. Elles vont constituer un premier test de la nouvelle approche de partenariat du Cirad avec ses partenaires du Sénégal. 


References: 

• 04/02/2010 - Article CIRAD
• Compte-rendu de la réunion de concertation du Cirad avec ses partenaires sénégalais (janvier 2010)

Liens

• Le Cirad au Sénégal 
• Institut sénégalais de recherches agricoles (Isra)

Coordination of European agricultural research programmes for mitigation and adaptation actions to climate change

17th December 2009, Brussels . ERA-ARD, SCAR and EIARD, with a special support of CIRAD, the French agricultural research centre for international development, the ERA-ARD Coordinator, co-organise an international conference entitled: « Dialogue between Europe and its Southern partners on agricultural research and climate change ».

This conference aimed at facilitating the identification and initiating coordination of European agricultural research programmes for mitigation and adaptation actions to climate change for mutual benefit of Europe and its Southern partners.

Dr. Sabine Gundel consultant International Institute for Environment and Development IIED presents the first results of the EIARD report : Climate change and ARD policy review: Lessons from Africa (left: Mike Collins, Science Strategy and International Division, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair ( DEFRA).

The conference focused on three major themes:

What are the challenges and why a dialogue between Europe and its Southern partners is necessary?

Initial mapping of on-going and planned agricultural research programmes related to climate change in Europe and the Southern regions.

Priorities for the future: What are the research priorities and coordination mechanisms to be put in place for reducing the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector?

What could be the agenda of a European joint programme initiative in this field?

Reference: International Conference ERA-ARD

Related FARA blog posts:

• 14/12/09 AfricaAdapt at COP15
• 28/05/08 Report on how climate science could be better used for supporting adaption in african agriculture
• 19/05/09 World bank institute workshop on climate change adaptation in agriculture

CIARD Africa Advocacy Consultation

14th July 2009. The Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) initiative is working to make agricultural research information publicly available and accessible to all. This means working with organisations that hold information or that create new knowledge – to help them disseminate it more efficiently and make it easier to access. A consultation was organised at FARA on CIARD for the RAILS national learning teams which attended previously the RAILS side event at IAALD.

The purpose was the creation of a core group of African senior research information specialists at regional, sub-regional, and national level in Africa who are familiar with the CIARD manifesto and principles and understand the main implications/challenges of trying to achieve institutional change and implement the CIARD Checklist and actions.

The second purpose was to agree on an agenda for action to advocate the CIARD agenda amongst key audiences in African agricultural research, namely: (a) research managers and decision makers, (b) researchers and academics, (c) information specialists.

When the UK DFID (Department for International Development), aware of the value of putting research into use, commissioned FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) with the task of catalyzing efforts to ensure that agricultural research information and knowledge become public domain, it triggered the formation of a global partnership on Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD). The partnership includes FAO, EGFAR, the CGIAR, and others in the agricultural research community.

The partners in the CIARD initiative are committed to promoting the sharing of data, information and knowledge to empower the various stakeholders involved in agriculture. To begin with, CIARD outlined a checklist – the Triple A checklist that defines what is meant by ensuring your research outputs are Available, Accessible and Applicable.

CIARD pathways will help researchers identify a publisher who has more flexible policies on open access, so that they do not have to sign away all rights to their journal article. These pathways will also help a senior manager understand the value of institutional policies that enable sustainable development of repositories for their center. They will be brief and to the point. Where users like the IT unit and librarians, want more detail i.e. on Creative Commons, there would be linked resources on the web.

The pathways could broadly be clustered as:

• General – strategic and policy issues, organizational issues which need to be addressed in handling research outputs.
• Capture, Collection and Curation of research outputs – ensuring that all the outputs are described in a form that makes them available and accessible.
• Managing Web Presence – using the internet to make the information accessible to others.

Agricultural Innovations in Dryland’s Africa (AIDA)

5 - 6 March. Wageningen, the Netherlands. FARA participated at the second meeting of the steering committee for the EU funded Agricultural Innovations in Dryland’s Africa (AIDA) project, from 05.

CIRAD, FARA, CTA and the external advisor, Dr. Amir Kassam are represented on the SC. The project, now at its final stage, aims to deliver a comprehensive and critical assessment of successful innovations in dryland Africa and to propose policy options for increasing investments for sustainable agricultural development. Fourteen postgraduate students attached to CIRAD and University of Nairobi, Kenya; Bunda College, Malawi; AGHRYMET and University of Niamey, Niger and Makerere University, Uganda are expected to complete their degrees through the project.

Reference: AIDA — Agricultural Innovation in Dryland Africa Project

INRA to Boost Tunisian Agricultural Research

An agreement to boost agricultural research in Tunisia was recently signed between Marion Guillou, the President of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), and Mr Abdelaziz Mougou, President of the Institution of Agricultural Research and Higher Education (IRESA) - Tunis.

The agreement was signed on 16 May 2008 in Tunis at the Ministry of Agriculture in the presence of Mr Mohamed Habib Haddad, Minister of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources and Mr Abderrazak Daâloul, Secretary of State for Fisheries. The CIRAD will soon be associated with this agreement.

This agreement aims at reinforcing scientific exchanges, researcher mobility and joint projects between the two establishments. It establishes a programme of calls for proposals for joint research projects.The agreement aims at reinforcing scientific exchanges, researcher mobility and joint projects including biotechnology. The program will soon call for proposals for joint research projects between the two establishments.

Reference:

INRA 30/05 INRA has signed a cooperation agreement with the Institution of Agricultural Research and Higher Education (Tunisia)

Workshop on Lethal Yellowing Diseases on coconut

A workshop on Lethal Yellowing Disease, one of the main pandemic diseases affecting coconut worldwide was held in Accra 3rd of June.

The workshop was organised with the support of the French Ambassador in Ghana, Centre for International Cooperation in Agric Research and development, and in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research,and the Forum for Agriculture Research in Ghana.

Coconut lethal yellowing disease has been devastating plantations in Ghana at regular intervals since 1932. CIRAD and the Ghanaian Oil Palm Research Institute are currently testing the disease resistance of various coconut hybrids obtained by crossing "Tall" and "Dwarf" varieties. Coconut is a major source of income for farmers along the Ghanaian coast. However, it has been hit by the devastating effects of a small wall-less bacterium, a phytoplasma, which causes coconut lethal yellowing disease.

Note:
Lethal yellowing is a phytoplasma disease of coconut and other palms. Susceptible palms die within 3 to 6 months of the first symptoms. It is epidemic on the Gulf and Caribbean coasts of Mexico and in Belize and Honduras where hundreds of thousands of palms are dying. When the disease was active in Jamaica and Florida, in the 1960s and 70s an International Council on Lethal Yellowing (ICLY) was set up. It was supported by the FAO, the Coconut Industry Board, Jamaica, the UK Overseas Development Administration, the University of Florida and the International Palm Society, amongst others.

ICLY is now revived, with the benefits of electronic mail, as CICLY. In English this is the Centre for Information on Coconut Lethal Yellowing or Centro de Información del Amarillamiento Letal de Coco in Spanish (to acknowledge the inescapable fact that most research will take place in Latin America). CICLY is intended to act as a discussion centre and clearing house for information about lethal yellowing and similar diseases of coconut and other palm species.

Related:
Fiji Dwarf Coconut is One Tough Nut The "Fiji Dwarf" coconut variety may be able to save the US coconut industry which is being destroyed by the lethal yellowing (LY) phytoplasma.

L a hausse des prix alimentaires au Sud : causes, conséquences, propositions

Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement CIRAD, jeudi 17 avril 2008. De nombreuses causes ont été évoquées depuis le début de la crise alimentaire dans les pays du Sud. Quelle est la part réelle de ces causes dans la situation actuelle ? Quelles seront les conséquences de la hausse des prix sur la sécurité alimentaire et sur l'agriculture dans ces pays ? Quelles sont, les solutions envisageables pour gérer et sortir de cette crise ? Le Cirad propose ici des éléments d'analyse et de réponse issus de l'expertise de ses chercheurs ayant une connaissance fine de la situation dans les pays touchés.

Cette synthèse est alimentée par les contributions de chercheurs du Cirad spécialistes des questions d'agriculture vivrière et de sécurité alimentaire, dont un grand nombre sont en poste dans les pays du Sud. Elle sera mise à jour régulièrement au fur et à mesure des analyses en cours sur les causes et les effets de la hausse des prix.

Changements climatiques et interactions élevage et environnement en Afrique de l’Ouest

FARA participated at the Conference on climate change and animal production-environment interactions in West Africa, organized by the Centre international de recherche-développement sur l'élevage en zone subhumide (CIRDES - Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso) - 11-13 February 2008 - Niamey, Niger.

Objectif du Colloque:

D'une façon globale, le séminaire vise à contribuer à jeter les bases d'une agriculture durable au sein de laquelle, l'élevage Ouest africain trouve toute sa place dans un contexte de variations climatiques spatio-temporelles, grâce à une gestion adaptée des ressources environnementales.
De façon spécifique, il s'agit de :

• faire l'état des lieux sur l'importance des changements climatiques en Afrique de l'Ouest ;
• définir et mesurer l'impact des changements climatiques sur les interactions qu'entretiennent l'élevage et l'environnement en fonction des zones agro-écologiques dans la sous région ;
• proposer des mesures politiques et institutionnelles permettant d'atténuer

The participants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Togo, UNU, CIRAD, IRD, CILSS, ROPPA, CTA, UEMOA indicated among others; strengthened partnerships and collaboration, agro-food processing and product development, renewal energy research and bioenergy vs biofeul research

Demand Driven Agricultural Advisory Services

The Neuchâtel Initiative (NI) is an informal platform of experts for rural and agricultural advisory services that had been established 13 years ago. In this forum, major bilateral and multilateral donor organisations of the North are affiliated; additionally several resource organisations and universities are participating during annual meetings. The initiative is informal in the sense that it works without a permanent secretariat. It meets once a year on a voluntary basis in different locations. Due to the expertise and the quality of NI products (common frameworks), the initiative is leading in policy dialogue on agricultural and rural advisory services. It publishes harmonised common frameworks on policies, implementation and monitoring of agricultural advisory services for development assistance as joint products. These common frameworks are covering various topics of extension (which can be downloaded from the NI website http://www.neuchatelinitiative.net/) and are used as internationally recognised reference documents for the implementation of extension programs and the harmonisation between different stakeholders (e.g. donors) in the development of agricultural services.

With the financial support of CTA, following booklets were re-printed (1,500 copies of each booklet):

¨ Common Framework on Agricultural Extension

¨ Note de cadrage conjointe sur la vulgarisation agricole

¨ Common Framework on Financing Agricultural and Rural Extension

¨ Note de cadrage sur le financement du conseil agricole et rural

¨ Demand Driven Agricultural Advisory Services (DDAAS)

¨ Services des conseils agricoles pilotés par la demande

The translation of the DDAAS into French (Services des conseils agricoles pilotés par la demande) was offered by CIRAD. GTZ translated the same document into Spanish and financed its editing and printing.

Stakes and Perspectives for Biofuels in Africa

FARA is participating to an international conference organized by the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering and CIRAD, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from 27 November 2007 to 29 November 2007.

The talks bring together more than 300 specialists from Africa, Europe and the Americas to evaluate Africa's potential to produce biofuels -- whilst assessing the environmental, economic and social impacts of biofuel production.

Participants examine the impact of growing biofuel crops on water, soil and food production on a continent already buckling under shortages of locally-produced food and escalating prices of imported substitutes.

"The aim is in fact to draw up biomass use strategies that respect the environment and food crop production systems in each African country," said the organisers in a statement.

The conference is organised by the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering and CIRAD, the French agricultural research centre international development.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the government of Burkina Faso are co-organisers.

A few African countries have in recent years begun to experiment with biofuel production to supplement fossil fuels, but some experts have raised concern at the increasing conversion of arable land to biofuels crops at the expense of food production.

See also:

• Les experts s'accordent sur un équivalent du GIEC en biodiversité
• A research project to help deliver sustainable and affordable energy to the poor in Africa and Asia has been launched 28/11 by the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) and collaborating partners. Funded by DFID to the tune of nearly £4 million and led by the ACTS, the Policy Innovation Systems for Clean Energy Security (PISCES) project aims to produce policy-relevant information and approaches that can be applied by governments in developing the role of bioenergy in delivering energy access for the poor.
• Zimbabwe: Country Pioneers Commercial Biodiesel Processing
• Biofuels: What a Biopact between North and South could achieveEnergy Policy, Volume 35, Issue 7, July 2007, Pages 3550-3570 John A. Mathews View Abstract
  

Similar events:
Expert Consultation on Biofuels on 27 – 29 August 2007.

Biofuels Africa 2007
Bryanston, South Africa 10 - 13 September 2007

Biofuelsmarket Africa

Cape Town, South Africa 5-7 November 2007

International Biofuels Conference, New Delhi
7-8 February 2008