Sourcing Food, Buying Nations

News has broke that a large South Korean conglomerate, Daewoo, has leased about half the arable land in Madagascar for 99 years. The intent is to produce cheap produce, like corn, and plant products to convert into ethanol, at a lower cost than could be produced in the cooler climate of South Korea. The ethical questions that arise from this are numerous. The thought of going into a destitute economy and literally taking their land, the only thing of value, from a group of people that cannot afford to eat is outrageous. But at the same time this will produce a lot of jobs, building needed infrastructure for the exportation - new highways and a modern port to start; then all the jobs at the port and the newly exploited land. Add in the amount that Daewoo will pay the government and there is now a clear case on both sides.

But, this is not the only plan currently in place at a national level to find new sources of food. Saudia Arabia, as I have mentioned before, is planning to scrap its irrigated wheat fields, which is one of the most expensive wheat production areas in the world, for a cheaper alternative elsewhere. This would be done using their sovereign wealth fund as a financing vehicle to purchase or lease land in a more hospitable environment (IE: better growing location with cheaper running costs). This plan has the added benefit of being, at least in some respects, more environmentally sound. It would be trading more fuel expenditure to save on scarce water supplies. In a nation that uses large amounts of energy to desalinate the water to run the facility, perhaps even the energy requirements may prove to be neutral or better.

The Maldives have an even more grandiose plan. Since most of the nation sits very close to, or below, current sea levels, the government has realized climate change poses a very real and timely threat to its existence. As global sea levels rise it is possible the entire group of islands may be submerged. Their Head of State has declared that to keep their culture and community together it will consider saving up to buy a plot of land somewhere so, if disaster does strike, it is able to relocate its entire population.

As energy needs rise while production remains flat, capital becomes scarce, a need for food security rises and coastal land becomes more threatened, by both rising waters and increases in both frequency and strength of maritime storms, nations will find themselves considering more and more large scale plans to protect their interests cost viable. What is next I wonder?