African News Agency : Welcome

Washington, 4 Oct - (ANA) - Global development group Oxfam yesterday called on the World Bank to suspend financing for large-scale land acquisitions to ensure that its practices do not encourage foreign land grabs in developing countries. Oxfam urged Jim Yong Kim, the lender's new president, to announce a six-month moratorium on land investments by the bank at meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Tokyo next week. But senior bank officials said it would be a mistake to suspend the World Bank's involvement at a time when global food prices are rising and there is growing interest by foreign investors in buying farmland in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The 2008-2009 global food price crisis prompted a scramble for land in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and widespread fears of land grabbing. Madagascar's president was toppled in 2009 after he negotiated a deal with South Korea's Daewoo Logistics to lease half the island's arable land to grow food and ship it to Asia. The World Bank has long argued that Africa needs more investments in agriculture that would not only help modernize farming practices but also create jobs and new markets for local farmers. The lender has boosted its investment in agriculture to $9.5 billion a year from $2.5 billion annually in 2008. (ANA)