Agricultural Investments: The New Frontier of Human Rights Abuse and the Place of Development Agencies

Abstract

Food security remains a concern in many countries. The fact that the global population is on a constant increase translates to increased demands for food to meet the nutritional needs of the populace. Climate change has further exacerbated the situation as productivity of farms in many parts of the world has dwindled. New techniques have been devised for agriculture to meet food and other needs with a concomitant demand for land to facilitate the establishment of large farms. Acquisition of land continue to occur in different areas including places where land tenure insecurity is replete. Communities in these areas have been forced to relinquish ancestral claims to their lands and move elsewhere to pave way for the establishment of large farms. Some of these agricultural investments have been financed by donor agencies that have partnered with governments. Kenya and Uganda are key examples where multilateral donor agencies have funded large scale agricultural projects. Development agencies inadvertently or overtly play a role in human rights abuse in these two countries. This paper highlights on injustices that have been visited upon the occupants of land acquired for the purposes of large-scale farming with the financial assistance of development agencies. The paper proceeds by examining agricultural projects that have been initiated in Uganda and Kenya with the aid of donor agencies and the implications of such projects to the human rights discourse. The paper proposes stringent measures to be adopted by the donor agencies funding agricultural projects in both Kenya and Uganda.