In the middle of warnings that land deals are damaging food security, José Graziano da Silva, the head of FAO - UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, has compared "land grabs" in Africa to the "wild west", stating that a "sheriff" is necessary to restore the rule of law.

FAO's director general (and former responsible for Brazil's successful "zero hunger" program said that it while it is not possible to stop large investors from buying land, deals in poor countries must be brought under control. "I don't see that it's possible to stop it. They are private investors," said Graziano da Silva in a telephone interview to the British newspaper “The Guardian”. "We do not have the tools and instruments to stop big companies buying land. Land acquisitions are a reality. We can't wish them away, but we have to find a proper way of limiting them. It appears to be like the Wild West and we need a sheriff and law in place."

While large land deals have increased since the food crisis in 2007-08 (when the prices of major agricultural products reached all record highs), with companies and sovereign wealth funds to taking steps to guarantee food supplies (or better position themselves on a vital market), the overwhelming majority (85 to 90%) of the lands acquired in Africa remain undeveloped. Mr. Graziano da Silva noted that some of the investments involved the loss of jobs (as labour intensive farming is replaced by mechanised farming) or some degree of loss of tenure rights and expressed his frustration at the slow pace of creating a global governance structure to deal with land grabs, food security and similar problems.

In May, CFS - Committee on World Food Security, a UN-led intergovernmental group that since 2009 also includes representatives from the private sector and civil society, laid the foundations for a governance structure for food by endorsing voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests. Graziano da Silva remembered that "it took two years to discuss the voluntary guidelines and now we face another two years of negotiations on the principles for responsible agricultural investments," and that it is necessary to "speed up the decision-making process without losing the inclusivity model."

Graziano da Silva is not the only one frustrated with the slow pace of the whole process. Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, while recognizing the importance of the CFS voluntary guidelines, call attention to the lack of an effective enforcement mechanism. "The international community should accept it has a role in monitoring whether the rights of land users, as stipulated in the guidelines, are effectively respected," De Schutter told the Guardian. "Since there is no 'sheriff' at global level to achieve this, at the very least, the home states of investors should exercise due diligence in ensuring that private investors over which they can exercise control fully respect the rights of land users”.

For FAO’s Director General, the key is the implementation of the voluntary guidelines at country level and he is encouraged by growing public interest and awareness of the issue. He points to Uruguay as an example of a government prepared to stand up to international land investors – "perhaps the best sheriff" on these land deals are the local governments.

Read the full article HERE.