Sammanfattning

One of the dominant global development agendas for rural Africa in the past two decades has cast large-scale agro-industrial investments as a solution to achieve more efficient land use, higher crop yields, enhanced food security, and poverty reduction, among others. However, mounting evidence shows that this agenda has not fulfilled its promises: most land deals for agricultural production have not materialised as planned and their socio-economic development objectives often remain unreached. Despite the often severe impacts of non-operational projects, knowledge about why they fail to take place and operate remains fragmentary. Based on an extensive literature review of contemporary land deals in seven sub-Saharan countries, this paper sheds light on two 'productive gaps'. First, the article delves into the 'productive gap' of land deals themselves, identifying key drivers of non-operational land deals. The reviewed literature points to local opposition and financial difficulties as significant factors impacting agricultural operations. Local opposition, in turn, stems largely from flawed land acquisition processes and unfulfilled investors' promises. Second, this article offers a critical appraisal of the biases and oversights in the knowledge the land grab scholarship has 'produced'.

Nyckelord

Land rush; large-scale agro-industrial investment; local opposition; failed land deals; sub-Saharan Africa; comparative analysis

Publicerad i

Journal of Development Studies
2024,
Utgivare: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

SLU författare

• Engström, Linda

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

UKÄ forskningsämne

Nationalekonomi
Kulturgeografi


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2024.2328070

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/129355