Land, Gender, and Food Security

Abstract

Since 2008, a surge in large-scale land acquisitions, or land grabs, has been taking place in low- and middle-income countries around the globe. This contribution examines the gendered effects of and responses to these deals, drawing on nine studies, which include conceptual framing essays that bring in debates about human rights, studies that draw on previous waves of land acquisitions globally, and case studies that examine the gendered dimensions of land dispossession and loss of common property. Three key insights emerge: the evolving gender and land tenure literature provides valuable information for understanding the likely effects of land deals; some of the land deal issues transcend gender-equity concerns and relate to broader problems of dispossession and loss of livelihoods; and huge gaps remain in our knowledge of gender and land rights that require urgent attention and systematic integration of gender analysis into mainstream research.

Keywords:

• Gender
• land rights
• land acquisitions
• food security
• land grabs

Keywords:

• O13

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank the editors and staff at Feminist Economics for all of their help with the special issue; Stephanie Seguino for her editorial involvement in the initial stages of developing the special issue; the many reviewers of submitted papers; discussants at the workshop in Barcelona; and the Ford Foundation, Rice University, and the University of Utah for supporting this study.

Notes

¹The exact figures of these acquisitions are heavily disputed because of inconsistencies in what is being computed and variations in time frame (Ian Scoones, Ruth Hall, Saturnino M. Borras, Jr., Ben White, and Wendy Wolford 2013). Though these figures are imprecise, we use this figure (which is one of the lowest estimates) mainly because it indicates the scale of the issue.

²A freehold interest is acquired when land is given in perpetuity, without any term limits. It is the highest interest in land after the allodial or radical title, which is usually held by the customary or statutory land authorities. Leases and concessions are land sales that have term limits, often determined by land laws. Concessions are minerals bearing land leased to companies for mining purposes. Contract farming involves land being exchanged for either labor and or crops and is often a rolling arrangement from one planting season to the next, but can be the subject of an agreement over a specified number of years.

³The Land Matrix is an independent land monitoring initiative. The main initiative is called the Global Observatory; it was launched in a test version in 2012 and formally in June 2013. The partners overseeing the Land Matrix include the International Land Coalition (ILC), Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Because land deals are constantly evolving and not transparent, the data are an indication of what we know but cannot be considered accurate at this point. They will be constantly updated as information becomes available and are expected to become more reliable through this open process. A land deal

is referred to as an intended, concluded or failed attempt to acquire land through purchase, lease or concession that meets the criteria defined below. The Global Observatory includes deals that are made for agricultural production, timber extraction, carbon trading, industry, renewable energy production, conservation, and tourism in low- and middle-income countries. Deals must:

• Entail a transfer of rights to use, control or ownership of land through sale, lease or concession;

• Have been initiated since the year 2000;

• Cover an area of 200 hectares or more;

• Imply the potential conversion of land from smallholder production, local community use or important ecosystem service provision to commercial use. (Land Matrix 2013)

⁴See also Susana Lastarria-Cornheil (1997) on Africa.

⁵See Cheryl Doss, Mai Truong, Goretti Nabanoga, and Justine Namaalwa (2012) for evidence on Uganda, and Deere and Leon (2001) for evidence on a range of Latin American countries.

⁶Brazil's program for sugarcane ethanol does not appear to have had the same order of global impact (Scheffran and Summerfield 2009).