Sammanfattning

While literature on land grabbing and land formalisation respectively has literally exploded the past decade, few studies analyse the practical processes taking place at their confluence, or provide an analysis at an aggregate level. This paper is based on 27 months of in-depth empirical investigation of thirteen large-scale agro-investments across four regions in Tanzania. It explores how four key legislative acts and policies related to land formalisation and land acquisition for large-scale agro-investments unfold on the ground, their implementation and combined effects. We show that land formalisation and acquisition are intrinsically linked: the former paving the way for investment in all thirteen cases. Moreover, rather than fulfilling development policy expectations of land tenure security for smallholder farmers, employment and poverty reduction in rural Africa, we demonstrate that, in Tanzania, these combined processes rather foster village land dispossession, investors’ land acquisitions, and a (re)centralisation of land control. Therefore, we argue that the conjoint implementation of policies associated with land formalisation and land investments have adverse consequences for rural farmers whose land is formalised and then set aside for investment ultimately leading to a formalised rural land dispossession. Our unique aggregate analysis thus provides solid support to the existing critique towards the parallel implementation of land formalisation and large-scale agro-investments, and the interlinked reform of the land legislative framework, all strongly supported by global development bodies.

Nyckelord

Land formalisation; Land acquisition; Land grabbing; Dispossession; Land rights; Tanzania; Development policy

Publicerad i

Land Use Policy
2022, Volym: 120, artikelnummer: 106255

SLU författare

• Engström, Linda

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen

Fattigdom omfattar fler dimensioner än den ekonomiska. Fattigdom innebär bl.a. även brist på frihet, makt, inflytande, hälsa, utbildning och fysisk säkerhet.
Verka för varaktig, inkluderande och hållbar ekonomisk tillväxt, full och produktiv sysselsättning med anständiga arbetsvillkor för alla
Främja fredliga och inkluderande samhällen för hållbar utveckling, tillhandahålla tillgång till rättvisa för alla samt bygga upp effektiva, och inkluderande institutioner med ansvarsutkrävande på alla nivåer


UKÄ forskningsämne

Jordbruksvetenskap
Kulturgeografi


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106255

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/118957