“We have become strangers on our land”: some observations on the Implications of land grabbing for the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Agogo, Ghana

Land is a major resource that provide for the daily existence of most the world populations, especially those who live in rural areas across the developing world and are heavily dependent on agriculture and its related activities. However, in recent decades, much discussion has occurred both within and outside the academic arena about issues of large-scale land acqui-sitions and its implications for rural people’s access to land resources. Similarly, the issue of large-scale land-based investments by foreign and local private investors has generated a lot of public discussion in Ghana, as is the case in many sub-sub-Saharan African countries. While the Ghanaian government, like many African governments, view large-scale land in-vestments as a major development strategy, this approach has not produced the expected benefits particularly for smallholder farmers and marginalized groups. In this paper, I explore the driving forces behind large-scale land acquisition and their livelihood implications for smallholder farmers in Agogo, Ghana. The analysis draws on data obtained through a review of existing literature and field study involving first-hand data gathered through interviews and focus group discussions. The study employed a purposive sampling technique. Partici-pants included smallholder farmers, traditional authorities, government officials, including ‘lands commission’ personnel and agriculture extension officials. The study found that Agogo is experiencing significant farmland acquisitions by foreign investors due to deliberate government policies which sought to modernize the agricultural sector productivity and achieve national food security. The paper concludes that large-scale farmland acquisitions negatively impact the livelihoods of populations living by agriculture especially smallholder farmers. The study underscores the need for the Ghanaian government to revisit its strategy of promoting large-scale land investment and institute policies that would ensure that invest-ments primarily benefit and enhance the productivity of smallholder farmers and improve rural livelihoods. Therefore, there is the need for the Ghanaian government to institute land-forms to address the challenges emanating from land management and allocation in the country. The findings of the study provide useful information to government, non-govern-mental organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders about the major triggering factors of land grabbing and how it affects smallholder farmers, especially women farmers.