Food colonialism

Rich nations are practising a modern form of colonialism by acquiring farmland in poorer countries, ex-New Zealand prime minister and former director-general of the World Trade Organisation , Mike Moore has said .

"I think it is the wrong policy because I don't think food security will be guaranteed in the future because you own colonies overseas," he told the Gulf Times. "The English found that out with sugar".

Grain prices soared to record levels last year, causing riots and hoarding in some countries, and sparking a move for import-dependent rich countries to secure farmland in mainly poorer regions to ease food security.
Environmental analysts are worried that water shortages for irrigating crops caused by drained aquifers and melting glaciers could threaten wheat and rice harvests in China and India, and put pressure on global prices and the availability of food.
Fears of food shortages prompted moves to strike land deals in Africa and parts of Asia, with big investments offshore by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, China, India, South Korea and Egypt. Some of the largest deals include Saudi’s acquisition of 500,000 hectares of land in Tanzania, and the UAE’s purchase of 400,000 hectares in Sudan.

"I am a free trader and what if someone comes in and says I want everything?" said Mr Moore. "At what point is there such a thing as sovereignty? You can argue that the land is one thing they can't take.It has not been tested but it is a hell of a thing to sell politically in free societies".

“I think this could well end in tears. It’s a simplistic sort of food security, and it didn’t work for the British Empire which was built on it. My country was a bloody farm for years." Moore is quoted elsewhere

Moore also defended globalisation and revealed the true beneficiaries when he stated that :-
"The poor have helped the rich by putting half a billion more consumers into the market in China and India,"