Susanne Johanna Väth
Susanne Johanna Väth is a Research Fellow in the field of Development Economics at the Institute for Co-operation in Developing Countries at Philipps-University of Marburg/ Germany. Due to her interdisciplinary background (Economics, Political Science & Philosophy) she combines quantitative and qualitative approaches in her PhD-research to analyse large-scale investment in agricultural land with a focus on Ghana and Kenya. Contact: vaeth@staff.uni-marburg.de |
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Research on Land-grabbing:
Gaining neighbours or disruptive factors - what happened when large-scale land-based investment in the Ghanaian oil palm sector met the local population on the ground?
If land transactions can be beneficial to host countries depend on the governance system, the so-called rules of the game and their enforcement, but also on the appreciation of the fact that land is more than solely a production factor. As investors often face a weak institutional environment, outcomes for the local populations frequently seem to be arbitrarily. To overcome these grievances clear regulations are necessary, but how to design and implement them? This study wants to contribute to a positive approach improving future investment when learning from the past in the Ghanaian oil palm sector. Based on focus group discussions, expert interviews and a household survey (conducted in 2010/ 2011), the effects on people who received compensation, on neighbouring communities in general, on permanent and casual workers as well as on contract farmers will be analysed against a theoretical framework of land governance inspired by new institutional economic thoughts.
