Does Your Favorite Food Cause Land Grabs?
Did you know that every time someone takes a swig of soda or bites into a cookie, they may be consuming sugar grown on land that has been taken from its previous occupants – often poor communities – without their consent? Indeed, many of the world’s largest food companies rely on long chains of production that maintain great distance between their corporate offices and the fields where their raw ingredients are grown. As a result, the biggest sugar buyers and producers have failed to keep tabs on their industry’s insatiable demand for land, and the lengths to which the third party companies they work with will go to acquire it.
Land Grabs 101
Wealthy investors around the world and large producers who supply sugar, palm oil and soy have been increasingly turning to land grabbing as a means of acquiring large parcels of land to turn into farmland for cash crops. These deals are often struck without the free, prior and informed consent of the land owners, often without compensation and may involve intimidation or violence.
The Facts
- Every 30 seconds land the size of Chicago is grabbed by rich investors in some of the world's poorest countries to grow cash crops like sugar
- Two-thirds of all foreign land deals in poor countries happen in places facing severe hunger issues
- Big name brands like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Associated British Foods purchase sugar from producers linked to land grabs
Land Grabs on the Ground
Land grabs devastate the livelihoods of families, entire communities and small-scale farmers around the world. In Brazil's Pernambuco State since 1914 multiple generations of families grew crops, fished and collected shellfish to eat and sell. In 2002, 53 families were evicted from their land, after several decades of intermittent pressure from Usina Trapiche, a giant company which provides sugar to Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.
In 1998, members of the sugar company’s private militia destroyed the communities’ homes and farm land, burning down their houses and then, after they had been rebuilt, burning them down again. The community received death threats and feared for their safety. Finally in 2002, Trapiche was successful, through court proceedings, in pushing the community off their land. Federal officials have tried, unsuccessfully, to restore the community’s rights to the land, but Trapiche has successfully leveraged its political influence to retain control.
Unfortunately this story is not unique and is becoming a serious threat to global human rights and food security.
What Can You Do to Stop This?
Start by signing Oxfam's current petition to hold the world's largest food and beverage companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi-co and Associated British Foods accountable for the land and human rights atrocities occurring in their supply chains. These huge companies have the market power to pressure their suppliers into committing to zero tolerance land grab policies and you have the power to pressure these food and beverage giants into stepping up and standing against land grabs. Make sure your voice is heard.
Then share the following message via Facebook or Twitter:
I just told @CocaColaCo, @PepsiCo and #ABF to make sure their sugar doesn't lead to land grabs. Go #BehindTheBrandshttp://behindthebrands.orgNext learn more about the human, environmental and food security costs of land grabs by attending the Oxfam Bay Area Action Corps upcoming panel discussion, Standing on Common Ground: A Local Discussion on Global Land Grabs, October 26th, 2:30 – 4:30 pm in Oakland, CA. For more information or to RSVP visit oxfamsf-worldfoodday.eventbrite.com
