GEOG 213 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Tsetse Fly, Sub-Saharan Africa, Tropical Africa
26 Sep 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Selling of large tracts of public lands: inefficiency and low agricultural productivity lead to sell-off, governments need revenues, major agro-industrial or commercial investors can develop the land. Mixed impact of mega land deals: some large commercial farms do increase output, some lands are left fallow by speculators, farmers are displaced and villages are destroyed, success depends on government handling and assistance to locals. Landholding are too small, and farmers lack means or knowledge to improve yields. The best use then is to let foreign investors exploit our resources. Food will become cheaper and there will be more of it. Revenues would allow for better education, infrastructure, and employment. Families are being forced off their land so that the government can lease it to foreigners. People now must purchase food at an increased cost. This is not idle land; it was being cultivated. Foreigners are buying land and sitting on it, waiting for the land value to rise.
