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The Global Land Rush, Inequalities and Livelihoods

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The Global Land Rush, Inequalities and Livelihoods: Enabling Environments for Strengthening Food Security in Ethiopia and Ghana

Project Summary

Over 800 million people worldwide face food insecurity and the figure has been rising in recent years. One of the biggest changes in the last decade to the food and agriculture sectors is the rise of foreign investment. Governments are optimistic about how this may contribute to improved livelihoods and food security while non-­governmental organizations are pessimistic and suggest these changes foster inequalities and harm livelihoods. Africa has been central to a lot of this foreign investment. There has been much research conducted, but limited academic research takes an interdisciplinary perspective to evaluate the intersections between private investment, livelihoods, inequalities, and food security.

What is available often draws upon singular case studies. The team contributes to the literature, and addresses this knowledge gap, by analyzing and comparing six case studies from two countries: Ethiopia and Ghana. The core research question guiding this project is: What are the legal, policy, and regulatory regimes and processes that form an enabling environment for the private sector to strengthen food security, improve livelihoods and promote economic growth for all?

Project Objectives

  • Critically evaluate detailed case studies of private sector investment in agriculture from two national contexts, Ethiopia, and Ghana.
  • Assess the legal, policy, and regulatory environments of Ethiopia and Ghana, drawing lessons from comparing and contrasting the two countries.
  • Disaggregate the differentiated impacts on individuals and communities to analyze the intersections of food security, inequalities, livelihoods, and private sector engagement.
  • Develop an interdisciplinary framework for analyzing the complex enabling environment of institutions, laws, policies, regulations with regard to private sector impacts on food security, inequalities, livelihoods, and economic opportunities.

Achievements, publications, presentations etc

  • Cochrane, L. and Andrews, N., Eds. (2021) The Transnational Land Rush in Africa: A Decade After the Spike. Palgrave: New York.
  • Cochrane, L. and Legault, D. D. (2020) The Rush for Land and Agricultural Investment in Ethiopia: What We Know and What We Are Missing. Land 9 (5): 167 (1-13).
  • Dejene, M. and Cochrane, L. (2021) The Power of Policy and Entrenching Inequalities in Ethiopia: Reframing Agency in the Global Land Rush (Chapter 9). In The Transnational Land Rush in Africa: A Decade After the Spike. Edited by L. Cochrane and N. Andrews. Palgrave: New York.
  • Cochrane, L., Anku, J. H. and Andrews, N. (2020) Beyond the Land Rush? Reflections on Broader Interactions and the Future of IPE of Africa (Chapter 11). In The Land Rush in Africa: A Decade After the Spike. Edited by L. Cochrane and N. Andrews. Palgrave: New York.
  • Andrews, N. and Cochrane, L. (2020) International Political Economy and the Land Rush in Africa: Trends, Scale, Narratives and Contestations (Chapter 1). In The Transnational Land Rush in Africa: A Decade After the Spike. Edited by L. Cochrane and N. Andrews. Palgrave: New York.

Keywords, Tags

The Global Land Rush, Inequalities and Livelihoods: Enabling Environments for Strengthening Food Security in Ethiopia and Ghana

CPP Policy Law Land Rights Food Security Livelihoods Foreign Direct Investment

CPP Faculty Member

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