Large-scale agricultural investments trigger direct and indirect land use change: New evidence from the Nacala corridor, Mozambique

The Nacala corridor in Mozambique is one of the main host regions for large-scale agricultural investments (LAIs) in Africa. LAI companies produce crops for export, with scarcely known impacts on small-scale farmers and the environment. We conducted 101 interviews with small-scale farmers living near an LAI to elicit their perceptions of the LAI’s impacts on their own land use and the environment. Additionally, we used remote sensing to assess land use change between 2000 and 2015 in two study areas in Guruè and Monapo districts. The results show that LAIs caused deforestation both directly and indirectly. The main environmental impact perceived by farmers was that LAIs had blocked their access to rivers. Positive spillovers did occur, but could not compensate for the negative impacts experienced. A peaceful coexistence of LAIs and small-scale farmers in the Nacala corridor is only possible if existing injustices around the occupation of land are resolved.