Food, drinks firms urged to crack down on sugar ‘land grabs’
The organisation’s report, Sugar Rush, notes small-scale farmers and their families are being forced out of their homes. It has noted a global rise in large-scale land acquisitions as suppliers of ingredients such as sugar, soy, and palm oil gear up for greater demand.
Much of this growth is linked to a World Health Organisation prediction that the world’s population will exceed 9bn by 2020.
Oxfam’s report defines land grabs as big deals where local communities that rely on the land are evicted without consent or compensation. Oxfam’s ‘Behind the Brands’ campaign states that the world’s 10 biggest food and drink companies lack strong enough policies to ensure land grabs and disputes do not feature in their supply chains.
Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam executive director, said: “Sugar is already linked to serious health issues. It also lies at the heart of the bitter problem of land grabs.
“Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Associated British Foods are the world’s biggest producers and buyers of sugar but they are doing little to ensure the sugar in their products is not grown on land grabbed from poor communities,” she said.
“The people who love their products expect better. We are calling on them to join us in demanding that Coke, Pepsi and Associated British Foods act now to stamp out land grabs. These three companies have a huge amount of power and influence. If they act they could transform the industry.”
The global sugar trade is expected to grow by 25% by 2020, adding further pressure on land availability. The industry is currently worth about $47bn (€35bn); the world’s farmers produced 176m tonnes of sugar last year; the food and drinks industry accounts for more than half of this.
The report claims it has evidence of land grabs in Cambodia and Brazil in particular. The report also traces Associated British Foods to land grabs, through the company’s ownership of Illovo, Africa’s largest producer of sugar cane, which has been linked to land conflicts in Mali, Zambia, and Malawi.
Oxfam said it plans to continue its research into links between leading food and drinks companies and the actions of suppliers.
Sugar Rush report notes that at least 4m hectares of land have been acquired for sugar production in 100 large-scale land deals since 2000. It also cites figures suggesting that sugar features more prominently in land grabs than any other ingredient.
“Major food and beverage companies rarely own land, but they depend on it for the crops they buy, including sugar. These companies must urgently recognise this problem, and take steps to ensure that land rights violations and conflicts are not part of their supply chains,” it states.
