Beyond Farmland Grabbing in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Toward a Food-Oriented Land Policy Model for Governance and Food Security

Résumé

Since the 2007-2008 food crisis, large-scale land acquisitions have intensified dramatically across low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, fueling mounting international competition over agricultural land resources. Between 2000 and 2020, over 33 million hectares were subject to recorded transnational transactions, raising fundamental questions about the implications of this phenomenon for the food security of local populations. Despite a growing body of scholarship, three critical gaps persist: international legal frameworks remain largely declaratory and weakly enforceable; existing analyses insufficiently bridge global land acquisition dynamics with endogenous national regulatory instruments; and the concept of a food-oriented land policy remains theoretically underdeveloped. Against this backdrop, this article advances a conceptual model of food-oriented land policy as a strategic regulatory instrument designed to act both upstream, by addressing the multidimensional determinants of farmland grabbing through preventive mechanisms, and downstream, by strengthening the food resilience of local communities exposed to the effects of large-scale agricultural investments. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative and systemic approach, combining a critical and selective review of peer-reviewed literature indexed in Scopus and Web of Science with institutional sources (FAO, World Bank, Land Matrix), complemented by an integrative theoretical construction process. The article makes three major contributions. First, it introduces an original analytical architecture structured around four interdependent categories of determinants, propulsive and stimulatory factors driving land grabbing, and accelerative and decelerative factors shaping its food security outcomes, hereby explaining why similar land acquisition dynamics generate divergent alimentary results across different national contexts. Second, food-oriented land policy is conceptualized as an endogenous regulatory mechanism operating across three complementary levels: preventive regulation (land tenure security, acquisition thresholds), contractual regulation (inclusive clauses, local food allocation requirements), and systemic regulation (resilience to climatic and geopolitical shocks). Third, by explicitly articulating these regulatory layers with the four dimensions of food security - availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability - the framework provides an empirically testable analytical foundation for strengthening national food sovereignty in a context of globalized land competition and growing ecological and geopolitical instability.