Land Grab in Central Asia, with Special Reference to China’s Foreign Land Acquisitions and Foreign Direct Investment

This paper examines China’s overseas land-based investments in agriculture and has a threefold contribution to existing literature. First, it takes stock of what we know so far about the determinants of ‘land grab’. Second, it presents a picture of sustainable and equitable development of Foreign Land Acquisitions (FLAs) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Third, policy syndromes are examined and policy implications discussed. China’s overseas land-based investments are part of what have been termed developmental outsourcing. Different from a conventional interpretation of outsourcing, this concept of developmental out-sourcing refers to off-shoring in which the state plays a key role in planning, intervention and regulation. This paper does not aim to provide definitive answers, yet intends to scrutinize the data and re-examine the ‘land grabbing’ discourse, with special reference to Central Asia. This will be done by reviewing the literature on land-based investments in terms of incidence, size and geographical dispersion over the period 1949-2011.