Foreign direct investment in farmland in developing countries - Accumulation by dispossession in Kenya

Sammanfattning: There is a new accelerating trend of foreign direct investments (FDI) in farmland in developing countries. After recent crises in food and energy, as well as the financial and environmental crises, the demand for farmland has increased significantly. Powerful economic actors lease large areas of farmland outside their own national borders in order to secure access to food, energy and other supplies at home. The new trend of FDI is concentrated to developing countries in general, and to African countries in particular. There is an ongoing debate whether FDI generates development opportunities for the host country or leads to exploitation of the already poor. Powerful global institutions, within a neoliberal context, are promoting FDI and are describing it is an opportunity for developing countries to gain economic development. Because of the new trend of FDI, there is a large research gap in the field. This thesis aims to help filling the gap. The thesis analyzes how the local farmers have experienced a case of FDI in farmland in Yala Swamp, Kenya. A semi-structured approach, based on David Harvey’s theory of accumulation by dispossession, was used to conduct interviews in Yala Swamp as a part of a Minor Field Study. The study shows that the FDI in Yala Swamp is a clear illustration of accumulation by dispossession. The interviewees experience suppression of the commons, proletarianization, and overall imperial impacts on their lives and the environment contiguous to the swamp.