Politics of Food Security: Foreign Agro Investments

Abstract

Food is one of the primary needs of human beings, if not the most important one. History witnessed numerous conflicts, wars, catastrophes derived from food. Therefore, food is power and the natural subject of politics and international relations. In mid-20th century, over-population and problem of feeding this increasing population became obvious. In order to increase the food production and solve hunger problem, a major leap called Green Revolution has started. In a result agricultural production significantly increased world-wide in a few decades. Even though, increasing food production provides hope to feed ever-increasing world population, major food crises display that supply is not adequate for hunger problem. Major food crises and hunger problems present a new concept to politics and international relations; food security which is a complex phenomenon that has many dimensions. Especially after the 2008 food crisis, foreign agro investments gained more importance and interest in foreign agricultural land boomed. It is estimated that almost eighty million hectares of land is subjected to foreign agro investments. However, when the recent trends, situation and implications of projects are analysed it appears that foreign agro investments turn into a powerful tool for neo-colonial land grabbing.