URGENT ACTIONS

Madagascar: Threat of large-scale land acquisition by foreign companies

In November 2008 it was revealed that the Korean company Daewoo would have signed a contract for leasing 1.3 million ha for 99 years to produce maize and palm oil in Madagascar. The whole harvest was intended to be exported to Korea and the terms of the contract were skewed in favour of the company.
Because of the threat on the right to food of the Malagasy people and on the right of all peoples to freely dispose of their land and natural resources, opposition to this project arose among the Malagasy population. The Collective for the Defence of Malagasy Land has addressed several petitions to the Malagasy government demanding the immediate stop of all land lease projects and the revision of laws allowing foreign companies to acquire or lease land.

Call for Action

Please send letters to the president of the Malagasy High Authority of the Transition, Mr Andry Rajoelina, supporting these demands. Please send copies of your letters to the Collective for the Defence of Malagasy Land and to the Coalition Paysanne de Madagascar.

Background

In Madagascar 37% of the population is undernourished and two-thirds is affected by poverty. The majority of the Malagasy population is rural: approx. 73% of the population lives in rural areas and mainly relies on agriculture and rural development for their livelihoods.
In November 2008 the Financial Times revealed that Daewoo Logistics, a subsidiary company of Daewoo International Corporation signed a contract in July 2008 for leasing 1.3 million ha for 99 years to produce maize and palm oil. The whole harvest was intended to be exported to Korea. The rented area corresponds to half of the arable area of the country. The terms of the contract do not foresee any financial counterpart paid to the Malagasy State. The lease fee would consist in investing in the infrastructures necessary for the realization of the project.
This project fits into the rural development strategy which had been pursued by the government of President Marc Ravalomanana. According to the Madagascar Action Plan 2007-2012 which is considered the second-generation Poverty Reduction Strategy, attracting foreign investment to increase production for export was seen as key engine for the transformation of the country. Modernisation of the land tenure system and of agriculture was identified as main focus of action to promote agribusiness. Since 2003, International Finance Institutions exercised pressure on the Malagasy government to formalise and regularise traditional systems of land tenure; and to allow granting of lands to foreign investors. With the support of the Millennium Challenge Account, which is part of the US official development aid, the Malagasy government started a programme to computerise land property and topographic records, to reform the legal framework, and to decentralise land tenure management. Besides that, during 2007 and 2008 several laws were passed to foster foreign investment. Law N°2007-036, for instance, allows foreign natural or legal entities land leases for a maximum of 99 years. Companies operating under the Malagasy law, whose management is controlled by foreign citizens or organisations depending on foreign citizens are authorised to acquire immovable property though.
Whereas the applications for land granting or acquisition by foreign investors are expeditiously dealt with, Malagasy small farmers meet insurmountable difficulties to get title deeds of their lands.  There are reports of granting traditional land to investors without the consent of the local population. Customary leaders who have publicly questioned this practice have been threatened.
The Daweoo project announced by the press sparked strong opposition among the Malagasy population. Their major concerns relate to the future existence of a homeland for all the Malagasy who consider the lands of their ancestors as a "sacred" good; to the dispossession of  numerous peasant families from the lands where they live and work; to compromising national sovereignty by granting huge tracts of land without any public discussion; to the fear that genetically modified corn could be planted, that cultivating corn in the Western part of the island might dry out lands and that palm oil monocultures could destroy biodiversity. Moreover, the whole maize and palm oil production was supposed to be exported not and therefore not contributing at all to the food availability in the country. Future Madagascar Entreprise Group, Daewoo representative in the island, has already acquired 94 182 hectares in the district of Brickaville, 33 767 ha in the district of Toamasina II, 40 000 ha in the district of Vatomandry, more than 50 000 ha in the district of Maintirano. Other demands of acquisitions are registered for the benefit of several companies.
In the course of the mass demonstrations which led to the coup d'etat against President Ravalomanana, the Daweoo project was identified as one of the main grievances against the government. In March 2009 the president of the High Authority of the Transition, Mr Andry Rajoelina, announced that the Daewoo project would be cancelled. Nevertheless, no formal confirmation of the contract cancellation has been given to the public yet and several sources in Madagascar informed that the Daewoo affiliate has only changed its name (now known as Madagascar Tsaku SARLU) but is going on working at various places.

The mandate of the Emergency Network

Madagascar is a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and, is therefore duty bound to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food and the right to freely dispose of the natural wealth and resources of its population. Granting large-scale land leases to foreign companies can lead to massive dispossession of land, water and other food producing resources by small farmers and other land users like pastoralists. On the other hand, large-scale land acquisition by foreigners can constrain the national capacity to produce food for the current generation and for future generations as well. For those two reasons, large-scale land acquisition poses a threat to the right to food and connected rights of the affected population.
Korea is also state party of ICESCR and is duty bound to protect the right to food of people living in other countries in cases where Korean companies might threaten, for instance, the existing access to land of these people. Since Korean companies have signed contracts of land acquisition or lease not only in Madagascar, but also in other countries like Sudan and Russia, the Korean government is obliged to ensure proper regulation of these activities in order to avoid forced evictions and other threats to the right to food.

Emergency Network Action 0911AMDG