Land Acquisition in Zambia

Due to the effects of pabulum price crisis of 2007-2008, at that place was growth impact among the nations about the food security. at that place was surge in hold for food products by the food import countries and subsequently food-producing countries imposed or so restrictions on the food exports of food ingrains. In order to couple the growing demand of food and face increasing pressures on natural resources and water scarcity, the countries with cut back and water constraints involve an alternative means of producing food.Acquisition of call down kill in the bristleing countries by these countries seeks to watch food security. practically on the land acquisition drive) These enthronizations ar not driven by the notion of comparative expediency in the large production of indigenous crop (Mann and Smaller 1 January 2010). The high oil prices in 2007-2008 were another driver, which triggered interest of developed countries to acquire land for energy crops. Globa l financial crisis too concomitant investors to invest in outside(prenominal) lands. The value of both food and fertile land was organise to gain, fashioning them an attractive new investiture.Budgetary resources in developing countries may not be enough to meet infrastructural investment required to use the land to its dominance. slightly developing countries ar seeking foreign investment to exploit their surplus land which is currently un utilize or under-utilized. This may lead to creation of melodic lines in rural areas and there may also be investment in health and education welkin. engine room transfer by the investor countries may lead to increase in farm productivity. However these investments are not without trade offs.There are concerns about the impact on local unretentive heap, who lack addition to and bind over land on which they depend. There deal be local unemployment because of projects with imported men and high degree of mechanization. It leav e alone also lead to increase in regional land prices by dint of soaring competition with regard to acreage and resources, and thus less access of land to poor people. immaterial investors bottomland also emerge as strong competitors to local producers, especially small households.There is also attempt of land conflicts in territories without well defined land titles (Bicker and Breuer 37 April 2009). In some sides, the land leases are justified on the basis that the land being acquired by the foreign investor is unproductive or underutilized. However, there may be that the land is being used by poor for purposes such as grazing animals and gathering fuel wood or medicinal plants. These uses tend to be undervalued in semiofficial assessments because they are not marketed, but they give notice provide valuable livelihood sources to the poor. (Von Braun and Meinzen-Dick 2 April 2009) large-scale land acquisitions may further jeopardize the welfare of the poor by depriving them of the prophylactic-net function of this persona.There can be misappropriation of arable land, displacement of indigenous people without compensation and migration to cities. So it is crucial to ensure that these land deals, and the environment inwardly which they take place, are designed in a ways that testament reduce the threats and facilitate the win-win situation for all the parties involved. According to Sustainable development innovation briefs (January 2010), There are three sources of impartiality governing foreign investment in agricultural land. 1) Domestic law 2) International investment take in 3) International investment agreements (IIAs)According to Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives of Republic of Zambia, Zambia has the best step forward and underground water resources in Africa, with many rivers, lakes and dams. Sharing borders with eight countries, Zambia is centrally situated as a gateway to both southern and central Africa. This location is strategi cally advantageous by placing Zambia in a position to exploit the growing regional markets of SADC and COMESA, and be an active participant in regional and worldwide tillage trade initiatives (Source The best of Zambia).Even with resource endowment for development of a wide trudge crops, livestock, and fish given the diversity of its agro-ecological zones, there was lack of cultivation because initially labour was forced toward digging sector. Urbanization kept the people to cities only. There was lack of infrastructure and utilities in rural areas which imposes a higher social woo in moving towards floriculture sector. The policies which took place were directed towards the development of mining sector, neglecting agriculture. It is for the most part seen that the developed countries are mainly with expanding industrial sector.These developed countries have initially accumulated the surplus in agriculture sector and then invested that surplus for expansion of industrial sect or. So there is need to develop agriculture initially. Zambia is cryptic in mineral resources. To explore the potential there is need to develop agriculture sector. In Zambia, most farmers are insecure in the ownership of the land they forge in. Less than 5% of them have leasehold title for their land. some farmers pay rent to titleholders or have some kind of sharecropping establishment with the title owners.Others depend on land owned either by the politics or common soldier owners, or on council or forestry land for their musical accompaniment. Those living in areas of customary land use do not need to be consulted before mining operations are allowed, and are usually not even aware of the possibility of placing land disputes before the Lands Tribunal (MacCuish and Frankel on behalf of Halifax Initiative Coalition). The efforts of the Agriculture part to mark off ownership and use of agricultural areas were hindered by the lack of information about who owned the land.Acc ording to report of Global Times ( 9 September 2009), The Zambian government is to devise measures that would change surface and quicken the acquisition of title deeds by prospective land owners, this was done in a bid to clothe the less privileged people to own land in the country. The poor people can use land as collateral for them to access loans for land development. According to Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Zambia (26 January 2010), unwrap of 75 million hectares land of Zambia, 43 million hectares (53%) is classified as medium to high potential for agriculture production.So far only 6. 02 (14%) of agricultural land is currently utilized. Irrigation summate potential is 2. 7 million hectares out of which about 156000 hectares is under irrigation. Framers are given a good price for grain but due to lack of market access the exit is outweighed by poor infrastructure. Zambia endowed with rich natural resources needs investment by foreign investors to strengthen Zambias economic muscle (Zambia carry dated May 11, 2010) Acquisition of land by the foreign investors is controversial and carriers many risks.Foreign investment can also be made through and through contract kingdom and out- raisers scheme or mutual venture or provision of infrastructure by the investor country. (David Hallam 6 December, 2009) According to FAO (2001), Contract farming can be defined as an agreement between farmers and processing/marketing firms for the production and supply of agriculture products under forward agreement, frequently at predetermined prices. The arrangements also invariably involve the purchaser in providing a degree of production support through, for example, the supply of inputs and provision of technical advice.The basis of such arrangements is a commitment on the part of the farmer to provide a specific good in quantities and at quality standards determined by the purchaser and a commitment on the part of the company to support the farmers pr oduction and to purchase the commodity. In contract farming, farmers have to loose some freedom over the choice of crops they want to grow.The main commodities produced by small-scale farmers in Zambia under contract farming arrangements are cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar, paprika and fresh vegetables. Of late honey, livestock (pigs and dairy cattle) and organic products are also coming up. Likilunga 3 December 2005) Nevertheless, joint ventures between foreign investors and local producers or their associations as partners magnate offer much spillover benefits for the host country. Mixed models are also possible with investments in a large-scale core enterprise at the centre but also involving outgrowers under contracts to supplement core production. rough governments have been active in encouraging foreign involvement in such enterprises, as in the Tanzanian sugar sector or the so-called Farm turn backs in Zambia (David Hallam 6 December, 2009).Zambian government has embarked on a programme to open up viable farm layovers in various split of country to be involved in primary production and value addition. In Farm Block Development, giving medication has to provide basic infrastructure such as road, bridges and electrification. The design of Farm block is as follow. There is one core venture of 10,000 Hectares with commercial farms of 1000-5000 Hectares and small holdings of 30-300 Hectares. (Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Zambia 26 January 2010).The type of business model to be adopted depends on certain characteristics of the economy i. e. olitical and social conditions, specific circumstances, the commodity concerned etc. Land acquisition and commercialization of agriculture is favorable, when economies of scale are important or there is need for investment in infrastructure. Contract farming or outgrower scheme is desirable when there in need to involve small landholders, but in contract farming care should be taken that contracts ar e properly implemented and there is no exploitation of smallholders by the big firms. The judicial proceeding process in Zambia takes too long and accordingly enforceability through litigation process is costly and therefore not resorted to.There is weakness of enforceability when contract is breached. Donor funding forms a big part of Zambias spending plan (The Africa report October 2009). China, India, South-Korea and oil-rich gulf countries with land and water constraints are turning to Africa as food security blanket. Saudi Arabia is interested in area of agriculture in Zambia. China is proposing to acquire 5 million acres of land to grow jatropha. Jatropha is a perennial plant, which can be used as biofuel. Plantation have yield after 2-3 years. In the short order there go forth be loss but in long run there will be gains.In recognize generated from grove will vary from year to year. Growing Jatropha needs long term investment, which is vulnerable to risk due to uncertainty in price, yield, labour cost and rate of interest. Biofuel can provide hedge once against humor change. Jatropha can also be used as a substitute for expensive kerosene, fertiliser and diesel. It needs less water so there is no need of major irrigation facilities. Jatropha can be planted during spare time in idle or fallow land, for which lot of formally unused land and degraded bush land seems available.Cultivation of Jatropha on abandoned agricultural, deforested or degraded land has the potential to meliorate the nutrient content of the soil and reduce erosion. Thus, this may improve the value of the land. However, the expanding use of land for the Jatropha production, even though it is marginal land, could mean that people living in the area would have to find other places for collecting firewood, herbs and fields for pasture land etc. So the selection of land for production should be done very carefully. Land grab in Africa mainly for biofuels has serious implications for food security.This however but it depend on the ownership of the land and how much space the production of Jatropha takes up. Biodiesel is mainly used by developed countries. If the price of food grains increases, then the people in developing country will suffer. Food security could even decrease where land and water resources are commandeered by the international investment project at the expense of domestic smallholders or where foreign investments push up land values. There can also be worst case scenario that there is production of 100 units energy biodiesel from the inputs of 127 units energy.The advertising that agro-fuels will assist farmers is based on the notion that the decisions about the use of the land remain decentralized within the country. Farmers should be given free will to decide how to plant Jatropha to produce oil for lamps or sop or bio-diesel for their vehicles. But the scenario set up by the large corporations is not what is desirable. There is trespass of huge tracts of African land for overseas consumption and if they ruin the ecosystem, they conveniently make a drop dead to other areas (MS Zambia Newsletter August 2009).Production of Jatropha is mainly done by the Out grower schemes. It is found that mostly there were no formal contracts for production. Even if contracts exist, there was no enforcement. Even farmers are not satisfied with Outgrowing system. Firms promise to endow the farmers with technology but fail to turn up again to provide information on technical issues. Production is targeted toward export and fails to benefit Zambian people. This can be confirmed by the fact that there exist no refineries in Zambia. There is need to set up a monitoring committee which can observe that all the contracts taking place are implemented.Strict actions should be taken if contracts are not enforced. The land grabbing has become very sophisticated and the poor are bound to suffer. There is need to lobby government for some insurance changes. Civil societies should come up for the benefit of small holders and there is need to sensitize and assist the poor access and legally own land. Building the content of small scale farmers and their organizations to be part of the new agribusiness dispensation through direct investments as well as in partnership with foreign investors is desirable.There is need to empower the rural communities access and communally own land through Community land titles to protect them in the future land concessions. (MS Zambia Newsletter August 2009). There is need by government to put more conducive environment by setting up small claims courts. There is need for further nurture of small-scale farmers so that they can develop skills in negotiating for good prices for their commodities. (Likilunga 12 December 2005) Extensive control of land by other countries can also raise questions of political interference and influence. (David Hallam December 2009).Government maintains secrecy in th e deals involving foreign investors. This lack in transparency undermines government accountability and gives an opportunity for corruption. Some recently account land deals were associated with allegations that investors had paid cash or in-kind contributions to business or other activities run by high government officials or even the president in a personal capacity (e. g. Hervieu, 2009), even where private ownership is formally recognized most of the land is controlled by state (Cotula, Vermulen, Leonard and Keeley 69 2009).It has been seen that incomes are very unevenly distributed in Zambia. Bottom 80% of populations in terms of earning are reported to have acquired only 31. 3% of total income, while the top 20% of population claimed 68. 87% of total income. (Zambian Economist, 31 May, 2008). Non availability of written agreement on land acquisition has created disputes in some resolution area. A vigorous consultative process on land acquisition has to be adopted o minimize t hese land disputes. It is required to have all the deals in the written form.Appropriate Resettlement policy should be in place and adequate compensation should be give to the displaced farmers. Farmers generally practice subsistence farming and the land of cultivation is scattered. Most of the rural population keeps on migrating within the country. The liberalization of the agriculture sector and other reforms in Zambia, were accompanied by the decline in cultivated land and maize production. The symmetry of households selling to the market and concentration of serves in central areas was also reduced. (Sangrario Floro and Schaefer 84 fall 1998). With privatization, subsistence farmers have to move out.Before the reforms, Government bore all the transportation expenses both within and between regions and gave huge fertilizer subsidy so the prices of food grain as same for all producers. After reforms of 1990s, it was found that the cost of production has increased drastically beca use of high transportation costs and removal of subsidies for fertilizer, forcing farmers to sell at farm gate only. Thus the supply to market was nil. Evidence can be taken from the squealer mines in Zambia, which was privatized in 1991. Large tract of land was required for development of new mines.There was often dialog with local chiefs for land. Local people were persuaded on the trust that they will be relocated to other areas. Most often interest of local people was in variance with that of investors. Sometimes the local chiefs enter into privy(p) deals with investors and accepted bribes as an inducement to persuade their subjects to acquiesce to investors demands. Impact of large scale mining on local community has been negative. There were social conflicts, destruction of livelihood, dislocation and displacement of local communities and environment abasement (Simutanya, ISS paper 165 July 2008).In case of foreign investments, it is noticed that Zambians were not given ma ny job opportunities and people were placed from permanent to rolling contracts leading to casualization of labour. If agriculture land is given in foreign hands, it can lead to similar consequences. Foreign investors are driven by profit motive. They generally us capital intensive techniques driving labour out of work force. They also try to minimize return to capture more profits in their hands. Profit, rather than having any impact on Zambia economy, is placed in banks or re-invested in companies outside the country.But it is also seen that with privatization, all workers came as a union, there was increase in the minimum wages. It can also be expected from agriculture sector. If all agricultural workers work in a huge tract of land then even they can coordinate themselves and demand for better wages and better working conditions. ). The economical benefits were also marginal, leading to large inequalities. In 2009, more than 80% of Zambias foreign exchange earnings and 15. 9% o f GDP came from copper mining. (iol. co. a Zambia copper mines More local benefits urged April 2010).In 2006, the contribution of mining to PAYE1 was 54%, to VAT2 was 45% and to employment generation was 58%. (Source Zambia Development Authority). But Zambia fails to influence World market prices. (Source www1. america. edu) Fluctuations in copper prices can impact the unit of measurement economy. So there is need to develop agriculture sector also as a safety net. But in which direction policy should be made is yet to be decided. The policy recommendations should be such that it should not affect the social and environmental climate of the country.