The Impact of Large-Scale Land Acquisition (LSLA) on Food Sovereignty

We argue that LSLA are more than a form of land privatization: LSLA lead to a (partial) “privatization” of the food system. This change of perspective leads to a better understanding of the real impact of LSLA on food sovereignty. We show that food systems share many attributes of common pool resources. We analyze the changing governance structure of the food system resulting from the development of LSLA through an institutional analysis of its core constitutive elements: production, processing, distribution, consumption. This raises interesting questions about the impacts of LSLA not only on individuals who produce, distribute and consume food, but also on decision-making processes concerning important public activities such as spatial development, infrastructure supply, land consolidation. We conclude that the impact of LSLA on food sovereignty is twofold: first through the direct privatization of land and second through an increased privatization of the food-system governance at local level.