Ashley Clayton, MA student in International Development Studies, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada. She is currently carrying our a field research on land grabbing and food sovereignty in Madagascar. For her research project, she will seek to answer the question: How does land grabbing impact food sovereignty in Madagascar? The objective of the study is to understand how land grabbing has changed local food systems and to identify the ways in which these changes have marginalized the rural poor. Land grabbing, in this context, refers to large-scale appropriation of farmland by foreign and/or national governments or corporations. By examining the impact that land grabbing has on food sovereignty, the study seeks to identify recent changes in individual’s access to, control over, and/or ownership of land, as well as access to labour, income and consumption. The purpose of collecting such information is to identify inequalities embedded in the social relations of production which perpetuate poverty. Furthermore, given the nature of the food sovereignty paradigm which tends to focus on the right to food and the right to define food systems, the study intends to explore changes in peasants’ decision-making powers in terms of defining what food is produced and how it is produced. In order to collect the required data, the study will focus on a case of land grabbing by an Indian corporation that has appropriated large swaths of land, which are now being used to produce food for local consumption. The corporation’s objective, however, is to export in the future.

Mary Ann Manahan is the first ICAS Activist Fellow. She is a Research Associate at the Focus on Global South, Philippines Programme. She also works closely with the global network, Land Research and Action Network (LRAN). Her research and advocacy work revolve around the issue of the commons (land, agrarian reform, water issues, freedom of information), including issues as they relate to international financial institutions such as the ADB, and the WB, and other multilaterals such as FAO and ASEAN. She also works on the issues on privatization and regulation of public utilities, resource management, and imagining and building alternatives at the macro and micro levels. The nature of work includes research, policy analysis, advocacy, and grassroots capacity building. The work also has national, regional and international linkages/dimensions/aspects.
To contact Mary Ann: mbmanahan@remove-this.focusweb.org