Tag: land

Right after President Benigno Aquino III left, the hall broke down into tears and shouts of rage. It was a painful sight to see. Journalists ran in all directions, not knowing which part of the scene to cover. Priests and nuns, the Catholic clergy who solidly placed their support behind the marchers, came to console the women and men who were crying and shaking in just anger. "We are not going to give up the land. Stop APECO!" People were shouting.

Many and varied are the challenges we Nigerian women farmers face, from lack of land to uncertain markets to the daily burden of maintaining the household. Working as day labourers brings its own uncertainties. No wonder a future in agriculture is unattractive to Nigerian youth.

By Susan Godwin, Nigerian Farmer

One of the ultimate perversities of our era is that the producers of food and their children often go to bed hungry. Reform of commercial agriculture is urgent if the women farm workers who grow and pack our food are to have enough to eat.

By Fatima Shabodien, former Director of the Women on Farms Project

Oxfam’s land grabs campaign, launched on 4th October, highlights the alarming increase in the speed and scale of large land deals in the past decade. It calls on the World Bank – as an investor in land deals, as a global standard setter and as an adviser to developing countries on their land policies – to freeze those of its agricultural investments that involve large land deals for 6 months while it reviews its policies and practices to ensure land grabs are prevented.