Stop Land grabbing in Romania / Bauernland in Bauernhand Why Romania? Natural resources Legislation Corruption Land prices/ ownership EU Cheap labour Lactitalia Prio Foods Gabriel Resources Agrar Invest Romania AG Rabobank First Farms Emiliana West ROM Smithfield Bardeau Holding Land grabbing In Romania Agrimon Pharos Financial Group ASI Europe GMBH Maria Trading Agrarius AG Unigra Ingleby Company Germanagrar & MANY OTHERS How much land has been grabbed ? Estimation: 800 000 hectares 6 % of the agricultural area cultivated by large multinationals But no official statistics + land grabbing done by Romanian agribusiness How do they do it? • Information diffusion – Positive marketing – No clear information about the contract’s details – No information about the agricultural activities • Contracts : renting – 100 €/ha/year or 800 kg/ha/year – 10 years – If you want to break the contract : you must pay 600-700 €/ha/year Getting the peasant to lease land Impacts - Land dispossession - Land prices increase (+ 300 % in 10 year) - Unemployment : - No active population - No socio-economic development - Destruction of a scientifically recognized farming model - Monoculture and pollution - No environment protection - Land monopoly – neo-colonialism! - Heritage destruction (archeological sites, forest) - Water resources privatisation and control Key concerns - encourages industrial agriculture systems and large land mergers - destroys peasant agriculture - weakens local economy and regional food systems - leads to land speculation and price increase - increases pollution and reduces biodiversity