Developing a framework to measure the impact of large-scale land investment on sustainable development and to combat land grabbing in Africa: the case of Amhara region, Ethiopia
Agriculture is critically important to growth and development in Africa. It supplies primary commodities, particularly food, as well as raw materials for the processing industry, and it brings foreign cash into the country through export revenues. However, land grabbing by foreign multinational com...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
EL-AYACHI
2024-11-01
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| Series: | African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://revues.imist.ma/index.php/AJLP-GS/article/view/46131 |
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| Summary: | Agriculture is critically important to growth and development in Africa. It supplies primary commodities, particularly food, as well as raw materials for the processing industry, and it brings foreign cash into the country through export revenues. However, land grabbing by foreign multinational companies is an issue almost all over Africa, Currently, many investors have leased land from the Ethiopian government. This fact demonstrates that investment promotion has been successful in drawing both foreign and domestic investors. Some of the attracted investors have made encouraging development. However, for a variety of reasons, investors frequently take an inordinately lengthy time to begin land development, and the large-scale land-based investment land used to be left idle for several years. Furthermore, in the evaluation system, environmental and social repercussions are frequently overlooked, resulting in environmental degradation and/or confrontations with the local community. In some cases, land identification and land leasing are all critical activities for converting land to profitable agricultural use. However, carrying out these tasks is not enough to get the expected benefits from the investment. This indicates that an evaluation and monitoring system is required for the overall success of large-scale land-based investments (LSLBI) in terms of its economic, social, and environmental impacts. Evaluation that is based on LSLBI guidelines should ideally benefit the investment project itself by providing timely technical and administrative help to improve the project's progress. Furthermore, an evaluation system is required to supervise and control the effects of agricultural investments. Evaluation gives current information engagement with each investor on the one hand and, on the other, provides basic information for the state regarding the success or failure of agricultural investments. An evaluation system is required to control the factual responsibilities the investor has committed to by entering into a lease agreement with a public authority, in addition to the requirements specified above for the evaluation of large-scale land-based investment at regional and district levels. This includes not only the lease agreement's obligations and duties but also the documents that form an intrinsic element of the agreement, such as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the investor's business strategy. The evaluation system will also protect the rights of indigenous people living in marginal areas whose lives are largely dependent on nature and non-timber forest products that are difficult to monitor using classical monitoring and evaluation tools. However, standard evaluation systems are required in the developing world in general and in Africa in particular, where the impacts of large-scale land-based investment are highly contested. The main objective of this study is, therefore, to produce an impact evaluation framework for large-scale land-based investment, considering all critical planning and implementation stages and developing indicators to measure the impact created at each level. Western Armachiho district of the Amhara region, Ethiopia, was selected for this study where large-scale land-based investment has been practiced. A mixed-method research method was applied to test and develop the framework. Data were collected from samples of affected local communities, authorities responsible for the management of large-scale land-based investment, and other major stakeholders. The findings indicated that a lack of evaluation systems on the impact of large-scale land-based investment on sustainable development affects the overall performance of these investments and the proper utilization of the land resource. Moreover, the study identified evaluation tools such as economic, social, and environmental systems that are important to check whether the investment contributes to sustainable development in the region. Developing an evaluation framework has to also include land use planning, land identification, land allocation, and land development procedures based on their economic, social, and environmental benefits. The developed framework can be customized and extended to apply in Africa where the challenges of managing LSLBIs are similar.
Agriculture is critically important to growth and development in Africa. It supplies primary commodities, particularly food, as well as raw materials for the processing industry, and it brings foreign cash into the country through export revenues. However, land grabbing by foreign multinational companies is an issue almost all over Africa, Currently, many investors have leased land from the Ethiopian government. This fact demonstrates that investment promotion has been successful in drawing both foreign and domestic investors. Some of the attracted investors have made encouraging development. However, for a variety of reasons, investors frequently take an inordinately lengthy time to begin land development, and the large-scale land-based investment land used to be left idle for several years. Furthermore, in the evaluation system, environmental and social repercussions are frequently overlooked, resulting in environmental degradation and/or confrontations with the local community. In some cases, land identification and land leasing are all critical activities for converting land to profitable agricultural use. However, carrying out these tasks is not enough to get the expected benefits from the investment. This indicates that an evaluation and monitoring system is required for the overall success of large-scale land-based investments (LSLBI) in terms of its economic, social, and environmental impacts. Evaluation that is based on LSLBI guidelines should ideally benefit the investment project itself by providing timely technical and administrative help to improve the project's progress. Furthermore, an evaluation system is required to supervise and control the effects of agricultural investments. Evaluation gives current information engagement with each investor on the one hand and, on the other, provides basic information for the state regarding the success or failure of agricultural investments. An evaluation system is required in order to control the factual responsibilities the investor has committed to by entering into a lease agreement with a public authority, in addition to the requirements specified above fothe aluation laof rge-scale land-based investment at regional and district levels. This includes not only the lease agreement's obligations and dduties buttalso the documents that form an intrinsic element of the agreement, such as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the investor's business strategy. The evaluation system will also protect the rights of indigenous people living in marginal areas whose life is largely dependent on nature and none timber forest products that are difficult to be monitored using classical monitoring and evaluation tools. However, standard evaluation systems are required in the developing world in general and in Africa in particular, where the impacts of large-scale land-based investment are highly contested. The main objective of this study is, therefore, to produce an impact evaluation framework for large-scale land-based investment, considering all critical planning and implementation stages and developing indicators to measure the impact created at each level. Western Armachiho district of the Amhara region, Ethiopia, was selected for this study where large-scale land-based investment has been practiced. A mixed-method research method was applied to test and develop the framework. Data were collected from samples of affected local communities, authorities responsible for the management of large-scale land-based investment, and other major stakeholders. The findings indicated that a lack of evaluation systems on the impact of large-scale land-based investment on sustainable development affects the overall performance of these investments and the proper utilization of the land resource. Moreover, the study identified evaluation tools such as economic, social, and environmental systems that are important to check whether the investment contributes to sustainable development in the region. Developing an evaluation framework has to also include land use planning, land identification, land allocation, and land development procedures based on their economic, social and environmental benefits. The developed framework can be customized and extended to apply in Africa where the challenges of managing LSLBIs are of similar nature.
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| ISSN: | 2657-2664 |