Land and agricultural commercialisation in Africa

The main objective of the survey instrument was to assess and analyze the economic impact of the three farming models – plantation/estate, commercial farming, and outgrower – on the local people’s livelihoods and local economy in general. The population of interest consist of both those who are directly involved in these models and those who live in the nearby villages but who may not necessarily engage in the models for various reasons. The survey was administered to a representative sample of the population with the aim to: 1) describe the economic impact of the farming models on the local people’s livelihoods in particular and the local economy in general; 2) undertake a cross-countries comparison of these economic impacts; and 3) enabled the researchers to look at the changes/trends in these economic impacts over time. <p>Resource scarcity is at the centre of the new geopolitics of growth and development. In global markets, scarcities have been felt in the forms of food price hikes and volatile oil prices. Many investors have responded by acquiring large tracts of land in African countries in order to secure a new base from which to supply growing markets, often changing land uses and displacing existing populations in the process. This can threaten existing efforts to alleviate poverty and undermine geopolitical stability, as competition grows over access to and control of natural resources, particularly land and water on which to produce food, fuel, feed and fibre. This trend is most marked Africa, where land rights are often inadequately recognised and protected. These same countries are hungry for investment, seeing it as essential for growth, yet substantial evidence now shows that African governments are not concluding the most advantageous deals possible, leading to costs at both the local and national levels. This situation raises an urgent policy question: how can the new land investments driven by perceptions of rising global resource scarcity be used as opportunities to promote growth and reduce poverty and inequality in developing countries. We hypothesise that the impacts of such investments are contingent on their terms and the institutional arrangements that structure them. Institutional arrangements matter. The research will investigates the different institutional arrangements and associated business models for such investments, their respective impacts on livelihoods and resource utilisation, and their implications for land use planning and agrarian transformation in three countries in Africa: Ghana, Kenya and Zambia. The purpose of the research is to determine what forms of investment can promote growth and reduce poverty and inequality, while also improving the productive utilisation of natural resources for national development. Five sets of questions – see below – will frame the research. These focus on: Global drivers and resource scarcity; Mapping land deals in Africa; Historical experiences; Institutional arrangements and Livelihood impacts.</p>

本调研工具的核心目标为评估并分析三类农业模式——种植园/庄园（plantation/estate）、商业化农业（commercial farming）以及外植户模式（outgrower）——对当地民众生计及整体地方经济的经济影响。本次研究的目标群体既包括直接参与上述三类农业模式的人群，也包括居住在周边村庄、但因各类原因未必参与此类模式的民众。本次调研面向该群体的代表性样本展开，旨在达成以下三项目标：1）阐明此类农业模式对当地民众生计及整体地方经济的经济影响；2）开展此类经济影响的跨国比较研究；3）使研究者能够追踪此类经济影响随时间推移的变化与趋势。

资源稀缺是增长与发展新型地缘政治的核心议题。全球市场中，资源稀缺已体现为食品价格暴涨与原油价格波动剧烈。诸多投资者为稳固供应新兴市场的新基地，纷纷在非洲国家购置大片土地，此过程往往改变土地用途并驱逐原有居民。随着获取与管控自然资源（尤其是用于生产粮食、燃料、饲料与纤维的土地与水资源）的竞争日益激烈，此类行为可能威胁现有减贫努力，并破坏地缘政治稳定。这一趋势在非洲尤为显著，当地土地权利往往未得到充分认可与保护。这些非洲国家极度渴望投资，将其视为增长的必要条件，但现有大量证据表明，非洲各国政府未能达成最优获益的交易，进而给地方与国家层面均带来损失。这一现状提出了一个紧迫的政策议题：在全球资源稀缺感知加剧的背景下，如何将新型土地投资转化为促进发展中国家增长、减少贫困与不平等的机遇？我们提出如下假设：此类投资的影响取决于其条款与构建该投资的制度安排。制度安排至关重要。本研究将针对非洲加纳、肯尼亚与赞比亚三国，探究此类投资的各类制度安排与关联商业模式，分析其对民生与资源利用的各自影响，以及其对土地利用规划与农业转型的启示。本研究的目的在于明确何种投资形式能够在推动增长、减少贫困与不平等的同时，提升自然资源的生产性利用以服务国家发展。本研究将围绕五大核心问题展开（详见下文），具体包括：全球驱动因素与资源稀缺；非洲土地交易图谱；历史经验；制度安排与民生影响。