Sierra Leone: Land Grabs Increase Poverty and Food Shortages - Christian Aid Report States

The rush for farmland by foreign investors engaged in industrial-scale plantation agriculture in Sierra Leone has increased poverty and food shortages among communities who have lost their access to land, new research shows. According to report from 'Think to Sustain' website, an estimated fifth of the country's arable land has been leased since 2009 to industrial farming concerns, many of them foreign companies producing biofuels from crops such as oil palm and sugarcane.

A report published on July 26 titled, "Who Is Benefitting?" examines the impact large land leases held by three investors has had on local communities. It was commissioned by local joint initiative Action for Large-scale Land Acquisition Transparency (ALLAT), with support from Christian Aid and other international development agencies. The leases examined are held by Addax Bioenergy (SL) Ltd., Sierra Leone Agriculture and Scofin Agricultural Company Ltd.

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