Foreign Acquisitions of Land in Developing Countries. Risks, Opportunities and New Actors

The last few years have seen a surge of acquisitions which has triggered considerable policy debate and many empirical studies. Drivers are diverse and, according to the existing literature, range from the 2007-2008 rise in commodity prices to high energy and low land prices, the perception of a likely increase in the demand for food, low interest rates in financial activities, water scarcity and the biofuels policy of the EU. This wave of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the majority of which has been for agricultural use, has led to fears of “land grabbing”. This concern is motivated by several reasons, the most important being that the deals involve at least one crucial asset, land (and also water), usually on a very large scale and predominantly in the context of complex and often unclear structures of property rights. This essay provides a general overview of the debate and the papers included in the special issue.