African legislators meeting in Kigali last week called on governments to be cautious while doling out land to international investors.According to the legislators, though agricultural foreign direct investments (FDIs) are key to Africa’s food security, it must be properly harnessed to ensure that they deliver on associated benefits.The lawmakers’ advice should be taken seriously.Over the past years, there has been steady flow of FDIs in African natural resources which, in many cases, failed to deliver, only to lead to severe negative consequences such as loss of smaller holder farmers’ livelihoods; increased landlessness; and severe environmental degradation.The Agricultural sector employs the largest percentage of Africa’s labour force and also contributes most of Africa’s nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP). No one will deny that many agricultural projects in Africa are not bringing benefits to the people, or the countries. Yet the business potential of land as a natural resource is quite obvious.So calls for governments to exercise caution while dishing out land are indeed necessary.Governments are partly to blame when they factor in tax breaks and other concessions to foreign investors. .What the governments can do is to enable investors to thrive so they can pay more taxes, which taxes can be employed in improving farming technologies to modernise the agriculture sector.We should ensure that we have better investors, never mind where they come from as long as a transparent wave of incentives to ensure the business succeeds is in place. It’s about addressing challenges that come with businesses.
