Main intrinsic factors driving land grabbing in the African countries’ agro-food industry

Land grabbing is a phenomenon that has spread widely over the last two decades and which involves rich and emerging countries and international companies as protagonists in the large-scale acquisition of land in developing countries. Through the development of an econometric model that takes into account the annual size of land grabbing in the African countries, the research aims to understand the main intrinsic factors, linked to the hosting countries, that guide the large-scale acquisition of land by foreign investors. Results show that the presence of a high debt towards foreign organisations, the high availability of virgin lands, the strong vocation of the hosting country for the cultivation of cereals, and the dependence on foreign markets for the supply of food commodities would be some drivers that guide foreign investors to grab land in African countries for the cultivation of agricultural and food crops. In light of the economic, social, and environmental consequences of the phenomenon, the study provides interesting managerial implications for foreign investors and useful political indications for governments and policy-makers, and it lays the groundwork for future research.