Large scale foreign land acquisitions: what interactions, opportunities and risks for different local farming systems? A case-study in Madagascar

Important foreign land acquisitions in developing countries can lead to structural transformation in existing farming systems. But does the development of mega-farms create the same opportunities and risks for the diversity of local rural households? Based on a case study in Madagascar, this paper deciphers the transformations of the local agrarian systems due to the implementation of an agrobusiness company, aiming to produce jatropha on 5000 hectares. Focusing on the local level, it deciphers the ongoing impacts and tries to overcome a vision of the "local community" as an homogenous and congruent entity. Even if the plantations are still small (230 hectares), the company implementation impacts on the local labor market (wage increase, transition accelerated from mutual aid system to labor market), migration flows (new immigration and less seasonal emigration), the local farming systems (vegetable production stops due to commoditization of manure, development of onions thanks to new comers' experience, adaptation of cattle bredding). Above all, the company plots encroach on appropriated land and generate conflict with the villagers. While the smaller farmers benefit from the company implementation (jobs, infrasctures access), the larger famers and herders are the ones who lose access to land, experience an income decrease and then oppose the company implementation. The company development also reactivates land conflicts between villagers (schematically Betsileo farmers and Sakalava herders) who both compete to have control over land access. Hence, neither investor nor local landwners manage to have secure and legal land rights. A better understanding of the agrarian system and the local tenure practices is necessary to identify the diverse stakeholders and interests in welcoming/opposing the company. A better view on whom benefit/lose from the company development, whom has land rights and whom has control over land access gives opportunites to enhance negotiation processes, improve legal empowerment and avoid violent conflictual situation, detrimental for the investor and the local inhabitants. (Résumé d'auteur

Napoleon Code versus local customs? Institutional environment, networks, and the enforcement fo rural labor contracts in Mayotte

Le rôle de l'environnement institutionnel dans l'exécution des pratiques contractuelles est largement reconnu. Cependant, peu d'attention a été portée à la nature " composite " de cet environnement, au-delà de la dichotomie formelle/informelle, et à son " fonctionnement " effectif. C'est précisément pour illustrer cette thématique que Mayotte, une île française de l'Océan Indien, fournit un exemple pertinent. Mayotte, qui décida de rester française en 1976 lors du référendum d'indépendance et de séparer des îles voisines des Comores, a affirmé récemment sa volonté d'intégrer pleinement la République. Ce choix a impliqué le renforcement du cadre légal français, celui-ci venant s'ajouter plus que se substituer aux institutions d'origine africaine et musulmanes, régulant encore de façon très marquée la société mahoraise. La confrontation de ces cadres légaux -un code civil importé versus des règles coutumières et musulmanes très prégnantes- induit une situation originale de pluralisme institutionnel. La mise aux normes des conditions socio-économiques, réalisée de façon accélérée en vu de la départementalisation, a parallèlement accentué les différences de richesses entre Mayotte et îles voisines des Comores. De tel écarts ont engendrés un mouvement massif de migration : à présent à Mayotte un tiers de la population est situation irrégulière, et un large partie d'entre eux s'emploie illégalement dans le secteur agricole. En marge du cadre légal français, ces contrats de travail sont soumis à des risques d'opportunisme élevés. Cette contribution met en lumière le rôle de cet environnement institutionnel composite dans la garantie des engagements contractuels, en soulignant le jeu effectif des institutions, et notamment le jeu " informel " des institutions " formelles ". L'analyse repose sur un travail de terrain approfondi (18 mois) et une méthode construite à la fois sur des bases économiques (fournissant les intuitions théoriques) et anthropologiques (étude de cas et observation participante). (Résumé d'auteur

Foreign land claims and acquisitions in Madagascar: What reality? what regulations on the ground?

In 2009, the 1.3 million hectare agricultural project planned in Madagascar by South Korean company Daewoo Logistics exemplified the paradoxical position of the Malagasy State concerning land management. The State was in the same time imposing the development of mega farm and implementing a land reform to secure local land rights. This Daewoo's project, now abandoned, also curtained a diversity of smaller land acquisition processes led by foreign or national investors. This article analyses what are, on the ground, the formal or informal regulations of these investments in the agricultural sector. It exposes the central role the State carries out in the promotion and in the development of these investment projects. It reveals that the State's central position does not allow an effective regulation of the investments but strengthens its control of land access at the expense of the local authorities and communities and to the detriment of a better security for the local land rights. This lacks of openness in land governance results from: the investors' practices, the persistence of a "State?Ownership reflex" and the absence of strong social reactions at the local level

Do investors really manage to have secure land rights? land deals and competition over land control in Madagascar : [Draft]

Beyond the well-publicised abandonment of Daewoo's gigantic agricultural project, largescale appropriations continue in Madagascar. Based on case studies, this paper analyses how land deals are partly shaped by the competition for control over land access. The Malagasy legal framework does have the potential to regulate large-scale land acquisitions and protect local land rights protection. But, all these positive-laws are not enforced due to investors' strategies to access to land and competition among state and non-state institutions for control over land resources. To gain access, most investors both engage in formal procedures and establish informal land agreements but they only negotiate with what, for them, are the "most visible" institutions, i.e. positive law institutions. Hence, neither of these two routes ensures tenure security. In view of the material and symbolic resources at stake, state officials generally help them to access land. However, the different state institutions find themselves competing over land control to assert greater authority. These power struggles generally hinder the land deals and take precedence over the respect of the pro-smallholder provisions of the recent land reform. As a consequence, some local landholders resort to violence to defend their rights while the access to land for investors is far from being guaranteed. (Résumé d'auteur

From international land deals to local informal agreements: regulations of and local reactions to agricultural investments in Madagascar

In 2009, the 1.3 million hectare agricultural project planned in Madagascar by Daewoo Logistics exemplified the paradoxical position of the Malagasy state; simultaneously encouraging the development of large-scale acquisition and implementing a land reform to secure local land rights. Opposition to the project was successful mainly thanks to the efforts of international NGOs and to the rhetorical value of the land issue in national political debate. Despite this well publicised victory against large scale foreign land investment in Madagascar, the trend of large scale land acquisition continues and raises a number of questions of interest to this article. On the ground, what are the dynamics of local politics within the framework of the ongoing farmland acquisition projects? Furthermore, what are the impacts of the recent land reform on investors' land access modalities? The article attempts to provide a snapshot of the numerous and complicated interactions, and overlapping of land rights which exist in areas targeted by investors. Whereas legal procedures to access land do not guarantee local and legal land rights due to the imperfect implementation of laws, informal land deals seem to take into account a broader spectrum of rights, legitimated on the basis either of local land access practices or of positive law. This paper also shows that for the moment, local protests to important land-related investments are rather limited in Madagascar and analyses the reasons why they are so (most plantations are just starting, available information is scarce, private agribusiness look very much like international development project...). (Résumé d'auteur

Toward a new regulatory framework for agricultural investments in Madagascar

The 1.3 million hectare agricultural project planned in Madagascar by South Korean company Daewoo Logistics exemplified the risks of large-scale land acquisition for local people, governments, and investors alike. It also highlighted issues associated with agricultural investments of this type in terms of economic growth, equity, and social cohesion. However, despite the failure of this project and the new political context in Madagascar, the flow of agricultural investments continues. What regulations are available to govern such projects? Madagascar's institutional framework presents some safeguards, but does not guarantee respect for the rights and interests of local communities or a fair share for them of the potential economic benefits. In order to renew this framework, a public debate on the role of such agricultural investments is required. This policy brief first offers an outline of the current situation. It then presents the issues that must be debated in order to renew the regulatory framework and to enable its implementation.. (Résumé d'auteur

Malagasy local land offices: what are the determinants of their integration in the local governance?

In 2005, Madagascar embarked on a major land reform whose foundation is inter alia based on the establishment of new decentralized land administration operated by the Communes: the Local Land Office (LLO or Guichets Fonciers). Upon its establishment, the LLO is facing three main challenges: its effective management and valuation by local authorities, its ownership by the population, and over all its financial sustainability. Six years after the first LLO was inaugurated, the overall statement depicts mixed statuses related to their performances, ownership by local stakeholders and perpetuation. This paper aims at highlighting the determinants that could influence the upholding of these Local Land Offices as well as the quality of their operation, and targets to unravel key conditions towards their sustainability. On the basis of a set of in-depth studies and field experiences conducted by the Malagasy Land Observatory on LLO and local governance, the paper uses a general assessment covering more than 300 Communes in 2012. The paper delineates the stakes and challenges related to the decentralization of land management and the institution of LLO. It compares the local context, the operating conditions and the social interactions of 3 groups of LLO according to their upholding pathways. (Résumé d'auteur