The Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI) is a network initiated by five university-based research institutions with the purpose of promoting ‘engaged research’ on the recent explosion of (trans) national commercial and corporation-driven land transactions. In-depth and systematic enquiry has become urgent and necessary in order to have deeper, meaningful and productive debates around this issue.
The LDPI has launched a global small grants programme to produce solid evidence and detailed, field-based research. PLAAS is coordinating the LDPI small grants programme in Africa, and has awarded 20 small grants to early career scholars to document land deals centred on food, biofuels, minerals, forestry and conservation that are unfolding in 14 different African countries. These small grants have been supported by the land theme of the Future Agricultures Consortium (www.future-agricultures.org). The 20 grantees for Africa are as follows (in no particular order):
- Maura Andrew (Mozambique and Sierra Leone) – Rhodes University
Land deals associated with large scale commercial biofuel in Africa: The nature and dynamics of the deals and potential impacts on local communities - Claire Bedelian (Kenya) – University College, London
Conservancy land leases adjacent to the Maasai Mara National Reserve: What impacts on Maasai pastoral livelihoods? - Lila Buckley (Senegal) – University of Oxford
The rice farmer and the sesame king: A case study of Chinese agribusiness in Senegal - Gavin Capps(South Africa) – University of Cape Town
Differentiation, dispossession and struggle: The case of the BaFokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine, North West Province, South Africa - Michael Chasukwa (Malawi) – Chancellor College, University of Malawi
Dispossessing the peasant: An investigation of the political economy of global land grabs in Malawi post 1993 and their policy implications on food security - Lauren Coyle (Ghana) – University of Chicago
Community rights and the ambivalence of authority: Timber, gold and the violent fashioning of the artisan in Ghana - David Deng (Sudan) – New York University
An examination of community consultations in large-scale land acquisitions in southern Sudan - Kathleen Guillozet(Ethiopia) – Oregon State University
Struggles over forest access and the re-emerging trend of foreign investment in Ethiopia’s natural forests: a case study of a forest enterprise in West Arsi, Oromia - Mazibuko Jara(South Africa) – PLAAS, University of the Western Cape
The policy economy dynamics, food regime impacts and policy implications of large-scale Eastern Cape land transactions - Ngeta Kabiri (Tanzania) – University of North Carolina
Wildlife conservation and land acquisitions: a case study of the Tanzania Land Conservation Trust - Hygin Faust Kakai (Benin) – Université d’Abomey-Calavi
Research on political dimensions of large-scale land transactions in Benin - Martin Keulertz (Sudan) – King’s College, London
The drivers and actors in large-scale farmland acquisitions in Sudan - Tom Lavers (Ethiopia) – University of Bath
The role of foreign investment in Ethiopia’s smallholder-based agricultural development strategy - Christopher Mahonge(Tanzania) – Wageningen University / Sokoine University of Agriculture
Transformation of traditional formal and informal land governance systems and local coping strategies in light of land deals transactions - Patience Mutopo (Zimbabwe) – University of Cologne
Gendered dimensions of land and rural livelihoods: The case of new settler farmer displacement at Nuanetsi Ranch, Mwenezi District, Zimbabwe - Maanda Ngoitikoand Benjamin Gardner (Tanzania) – Kenyatta University / University of Washington
Community-based tourism in Tanzania: Dispossession or empowerment? - Phil Rene Oyono(Cameroon) – consultant / Living Earth Cameroon
Transnational agrarian capitalism and the emergence of local agrarian elites in the coastal region of Cameroon; Keys to understanding, issues and lessons for theory - Caroline Seagle(Madagascar) – Vrije University
Contesting and legitimizing land claims in Southeast Madagascar: A multinational mining company, conservationists, state officials and ‘local’ communities - Leah Temper (Kenya) – University of California, Berkeley
‘Land grabbing’ and livelihoods in the Tana Delta, Kenya - William Tsuma(Ghana) – University of Bonn
The politics of land compensation negotiations in Tarkwa’s gold mining sector of Western Ghana
Links to further information on the programme and successful applicants available here: http://www.plaas.org.za/ldpi/small-grant-recipients