Pastoralists in Isiolo county in northern Kenya feel under siege;with their way of life under threat. Isiolo has been the home of the Waso Boran pastoralists for many decades;but attacks from neighbouring Somali herders;encroachments by agriculturalists from Meru;expansion of conservancies and planned road;pipeline and resort city mega-projects are affecting all pastoral livelihoods;creating many new risks and environmental uncertainties. Droughts are occurring more frequently. Market uncertainties are important;regarding access to milk;meat and live animals.

A paper from the Agricultural Policy Research on Africa (APRA) programme in Zimbabwe supported by a DFID grant to IDS;Sussex. Explores the intersecting factors that have shifted pathways of commercialisation;mostly of tobacco and maize;in Mvurwi area in northern Mazowe district;Zimbabwe;since 1890. Looks at five periods;starting with early colonisation by white settlers;then examines the consolidation of ‘European agriculturefollowing World War II;before investigating the liberation war era from the mid-1970s.

Since the arrival of multinational agribusiness company SOCFIN in 2011 as part of a large-scale investment in palm oil in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone;social conflict has raged in the Malen Chiefdom. SOCFIN is controlled by a Belgian businessman (Hubert Fabri) and the French group Bolloré;which has developed a business empire in many parts of Africa. This report found that affected communities who have lost access to and control over their land have been exposed to serious human rights violations and abuses since 2011.

In 2008;the world food crisis shifted agricultural investment to countries with productive land and cheap labour. The Nacala Corridor;one of the most fertile and populated areas of Mozambique;was heavily affected. At least 38 companies linked to large-scale agriculture;forestry and animal husbandry settled in the region. Thousands of peasant farmers were dispossessed of their land and are still waiting for the promises of a better life to come true. This web documentary seeks to give a voice to some of those affected by this land grab.

The Gambos municipality is part of Angolamilk region. However milk;which is life sustaining in these communities;was found to be in short supply due to diminishing grazing pastures correlating with the introduction of commercial cattle ranches to the area. It is the impact of commercial ranches on pastoralists which has removed their buffer against droughts and thus dangerously threatened food security.

A selection of nine short videos from InsightShare;which in October 2019 hosted a grassroots gathering in South Africa of African Indigenous activists representing 12 diverse communities from across the continent;who came together to discuss;strategise and skill up on issues of Indigenous cultures;rights and lands;and how to harness video for change. The nine videos are:

Argues that companies come prepared to take over the land;and communities in West and Central Africa must prepare to resist. Stresses the importance of a community speaking with one voice;and then lists twelve tactics that companies use to obtain access to company land. Considers questions such as:

In many rural areas across sub-Saharan Africa lack of tenure security for women has been exacerbated by rising commercial pressure on land;further aggravated by climate change;urbanisation and population growth. As a result;rural livelihoods are being undermined;with potentially dire consequences for communitieseconomic development and food security. Since 2016 IIED has been working with partners in Ghana;Senegal and Tanzania to engage with rural communities.

ILC officially launches this Land Inequality Framing Document;the first of a series of papers from the Land Inequality Research Initiative. Research by ILC member Oxfam and others shows that extreme inequality is rising in most regions. Worldwide around 84% of farms share 12% of the total agricultural land area;while just 16% of farms control the remaining 88%.

Research in Sierra Leone reveals that the role of Paramount Chiefs and MPs in approaching communities for negotiations compromised Free;Prior and Informed Consent. Companies and local authority figures used vague references to ‘developmentto convince landowners to sign. There are a number of investments that could be classed as ‘speculativewhile customary decision-making regarding the agreement to lease land excluded women;junior men;and members of non-land-owning families. Concludes with policy recommendations.

In advance of the release of the World Bank’s 2019 Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) report;the Oakland Institute exposes the Bank’s new scheme to privatize land in the developing world. It details how the Bank’s prescribed reforms;via a new land indicator in the EBA project;promotes large-scale land acquisitions and the expansion of agribusinesses in the developing world. Initiated as a pilot in 38 countries in 2017;the land indicator is expected to be expanded to 80 countries in 2019. The project is funded by the US and UK governments and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Growing commercial interests;population growth and conservation initiatives are increasing competition for land in Tanzania. At the same time;land-related conflicts are on the rise. These trends undermine livelihoods by threatening rural people’s access to land and tenure security. Women tend to be disproportionately affected as available land diminishes;disadvantaged by weak land rights and limited participation in decision-making processes.