“Planning in the wind”: the failed Jordanian agricultural investments in Sudan

Abstract

This article seeks to explain why the Jordanian–Sudanese agro-investment plans of 2006 failed to materialise despite reaching an advanced stage of negotiation and planning. It places this failure in the context of historical aspirations for an integrated Arab agricultural sector, and relates the case to broader debates over food security and “land grabbing”. Both of the factors that led to the sudden cancellation of negotiations and the motivations of the elite actors involved are analysed. In doing so, the study seeks to improve our understanding of countries and actors that push to invest in agricultural land overseas.

Résumé

Cet article vise à expliquer pourquoi le plan d'investissement agricole jordano-soudanais de 2006 ne s'est pas concrétisé en dépit de l'avancement des négociations et de sa planification. Il situe cet échec dans le contexte historique des aspirations du monde arabe à un secteur agricole intégré et, plus largement, dans les débats sur la sécurité alimentaire et sur l'accaparement des terres. L'article analyse les facteurs qui ont entraîné l'abandon soudain des négociations, ainsi que les motifs des élites impliquées. Cette étude cherche ainsi à contribuer à notre compréhension des pays et des acteurs qui promeuvent l'investissent dans les terres agricoles à l’étranger.

Keywords:

• food provisioning
• Arab world
• land grab
• Jordan
• food sovereignty

Additional information

Funding

The research for this article was supported by the Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI) small grants scheme in 2012.

Biographical note

Justa Hopma is a third-year PhD candidate at Aberystwyth University (UK) and recipient of the Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Foundation scholarship, awarded by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES). Her PhD thesis addresses the politics of food (in)security in the Arab world and is based on fieldwork in Jordan. The project adopts a critical approach to food provisioning practices and analyses how the organisation of the food system is contested.