Foreign investors are leasing vast tracts of land in Ethiopia. Source: IRIN
Under Ethiopia’s present constitution, all Ethiopian land is government-owned and extended to occupants through leasehold arrangements. Not all land parcels are registered however, and the government has ample leeway to expropriate large plots, often under the guise of improving under-used or uncultivated areas. The following article highlights the causes and effects of such land transfers and was chosen as our first post as it gives the reader a good first look at some of the current debates that surround large land acquisitions through foreign investment in Africa.
Courtesy of IRIN: http://www.irinnews.org/report/92292/ethiopia-the-great-land-grab-debate