– In addition, another determining element is linked to the land tenure systems. In most African countries, land property is customary and associated to traditional rules. In some other countries, like Ethiopia, land is nationalized, thus small farmers do not have any right on the land from which they depend for their livelihoods. Many national legal systems centralize control over land and undermine or fail to legally recognize the land rights of local landholders. This lack of legal protection is one of the “un-freedoms” that makes the path towards development increasingly difficult.
– Furthermore, the international trade and investment regime provides robust legal protection to international investors, while fewer and less affective international arrangements have been established to protect the rights of the rural poor or to ensure that greater trade and investment translate into inclusive, sustainable development and poverty reduction.
– Additionally, the “land grabbing” phenomenon is deeply integrated in the wider context of globalization, population growth and increased global commercial pressure on land. So, food or biofuel production are hard to separate analytically from wider trends of increasing commercial pressure on land characterized by a more diverse range of actors, scales, and economic drivers. They are part of a longer-term historical process of economic and social transformation. Consequently, it is difficult to determine a unique policy strategic approach.