Grabbed (Transcend)

Transcend published an article on land grabbing in developing countries. Land grabbing is a practice consisting of the purchase or lease of large tracts of fertile land by public or private entities, a phenomenon that rose significantly following the 2007-2008 world food economic crisis. Today land grabbing involves millions of hectares, equivalent to an area as big as Spain, and it continues to spread relentlessly. IFPRI estimated in 2009 that between 15 and 20 million hectares of farmland in developing countries had changed hands since 2006. The estimated value has been calculated for IFPRI’s 2009 data to be 15 to 20 million hectares of farmland in developing countries, worth about 20 billion-30 billion US dollars.