What is Ancestral Lands

Contemporary studies surrounding the land grabbing phenomenon in Africa have revealed two findings. First, the purchase or lease of vast tracts of land from poor, developing countries by wealthier, food-insecure nations has raised deep ethical concern over food security and rural agricultural development. Second, there is the existence of a powerful myth that large-scale land deals are necessary in order to deal with scarcity. Drawing upon extensive contemporary literature on foreign land acquisition and food security, this chapter examines the phenomenon using “rent gap” theory. With an insight provided into understanding the independent layers of land grabbing in Africa, a criterion on what should constitute appropriate procedure for land acquisition is thus supplied. Findings posit that despite insufficiency of food availability in Africa, land grabbing continues regardless of its social and ecological limitations. This chapter has a significant implication for cumulative research on the subject of ethics of foreign land acquisition.