(Mis)Investment in Agriculture: The Role of the International Finance Corporation in the Global Land Grab http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/pdfs/misinvestment_web.pdf

(Mis)Investment in Agriculture: The Role of the International Finance Corporation in the Global Land Grab, exposes the role of the World Bank’s private sector branch, International Finance Corporation (IFC), in fueling land grabs, especially in Africa. Following the 2008 food and financial crises, World Bank was to play a central role in what was intended to be a massive overhaul in international food policy and a vast improvement to food security in the developing world. Evidence, however, reveals that World Bank Group policies and efforts are doing just the opposite.

IFC is promoting “products” – such as the ‘Access to Land’ and the ‘Land Market for Investment’ whose purpose is to open land access to investors. Further more the creation of “investment promotion agencies” and rewriting of national laws, has provided the institutional back up for such investments. In doing so, it has overlooked the urgent problem of hunger that persists in client countries, and lost sight of its principle mission, which is to alleviate poverty.