Partnerships in the global economy

The negative effects of large-scale land acquisitions increasingly became the focus of international attention in the early 2000s. While numerous snapshots of global developments have been produced, there are still few studies on the longer-term impacts of such land deals, particularly with regard to land relations. This study examines how large-scale land acquisitions have changed traditional land governance, land use practices and rural livelihoods from the late 2000s to 2025. The aim is to examine how land relations have changed during this period, to evaluate institutional adaptations and policy responses, and to assess the emergence of a "new" traditional land tenure system. In doing so, the study aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the challenges for equitable and sustainable land administration in the midst of agrarian change when it comes to reconciling modernization and the protection of traditional land rights in the agricultural sector. The focus is on the Wassa Manso Division of the Wassa Fiase Traditional Area in the Western Region of Ghana. The study is a continuation of the project: "The erosion of traditional property rights by industrialized agriculture: The impact of the dynamics following the phase-out of biofuel feedstock production in Ghana"

About 78% of Ghana's total land area is under customary law, with traditional leaders playing a crucial role in land administration. In the early 2000s, significant portions of customary land were leased to foreign investors for the production of raw materials for biofuels.

Of the 20 plantations, 13 focused on oilseed crops, four on starch and sugar crops and three on woody biomass as a feedstock for biofuel production. However, after often displacing local communities, many biofuel feedstock plantations failed to achieve economically viable biomass production, leaving large areas of land unused. Since then, several biofuel feedstock plantations have ceased operations or been abandoned. This project aims to investigate the impact of such foreign investments in biofuel feedstocks after their abandonment on traditional/customary property rights and their consequences for agroecological practices, rural livelihoods and the autonomy of traditional landowners in Ghana. Using interviews and a case study in Brong Ahafo, the research will assess post-decommissioning dynamics in host communities. As seed funding, this research will lay the foundation for more comprehensive work to understand the socio-ecological systems context in which agroecological land use and management practices are currently embedded in Ghana.

In addition, the results can help strengthen local institutional capacity and influence policy decisions that align agricultural investments with sustainable development.

Since the 1960s, transnational healthcare chains have established themselves as a labor regime in the post-colonial context in order to overcome crisis situations in social reproduction and a serious shortage of healthcare personnel in OECD countries. Nurses, mostly women, migrate from poor to wealthier countries, from the Global South to the Global North. A review of the interests in the migration of qualified care workers shows that governments in the South are becoming labor brokers and using the export of cheap care workers as a development strategy to earn foreign currency through remittances and reduce problems of (under)employment and poverty in their countries. Countries and metropolitan areas in the Global North are becoming recruitment agencies that use migrant care workers to restructure their system of social reproduction and address the crisis through a low-cost spatial solution.
In addition, commercial agencies in sending and receiving countries earn money by facilitating recruitment and placement. The main actor, the care worker, has a right to mobility and often the desire to migrate for personal interests due to push and pull factors.

This complex web of migration-related interests is set against the dramatic shortage of care workers in most countries of origin - even if the figures are disputed. It is well known that every supply chain involves an outflow of caregivers and that every migrant caregiver is missing from their home country and household. Therefore, in 2010, the WHO published a Code of Practice for the Recruitment of Nurses with a list of countries that suffer from a critical shortage of health workers and should therefore be spared from recruitment. A revised list was published in December 2021. While Ghana is on both lists, India was on the first list but no longer appears on the revised list.

Immediately after the publication of the revised list, Germany entered into a bilateral agreement with Kerala for a "triple-win" programme implemented by GIZ and the Federal Employment Agency, further normalizing the transnationalization of care and official recruitment by the German state. Currently, other Indian states, such as Punjab and Telangana, are demanding a similar declaration of intent from Germany. This once again highlights the dilemma between the urgent need for qualified nurses to stay and work in India and their individual desire to migrate and their right to mobility. And it raises the question of qualification. Germany only recruits qualified nurses who also have German language skills. As the training of nursing staff at private universities with high tuition fees is increasing, individual nursing students and their families have to bear the costs of training and usually take out a loan to do so.

Another controversial case is Ghana, which is still on the WHO list of countries with an acute shortage of healthcare workers. In February 2023, Germany announced that it would invest in a "migration center" in Ghana to help Ghanaian citizens who are deported from Germany because their asylum application has been rejected. A supporting initiative for the migration center is to provide information on the recruitment of health personnel for Germany. However - as in India - they should be qualified, which means that the sending country must organize the training. Who bears the costs for this?
The German initiative is embedded in the narrative of feminist development aid and fairness in global value chains (in the case of Ghana in relation to cocoa and textiles).
A political and ethical debate must raise questions about the public interest in India and Ghana that qualified health workers should work in the country of origin instead of leaving the country. However, many nurses independently choose to escape low wages and poor working conditions in their home countries. But even in transnational healthcare supply chains, mechanisms of devaluation and discrimination lead to the exploitation of care workers and the construction of them as cheap labor. Migrant healthcare workers need to be informed about these restrictions due to migration policies and bureaucracy as well as devaluing labor market mechanisms.

The aim of this study is to propose approaches for the development of partnership governance models for the management of state-owned agricultural land. The study is conducted in Senegal, where public-private partnerships in the agricultural sector are needed to improve food security and promote sustainable development of the regions.

A case study serves as the basis for our considerations. It concerns the establishment of a foreign and multinational agribusiness company on state-owned land in the municipality of Mont-Rolland in Senegal. The company cultivates 350 hectares of land (after a period of negotiation with the owners of this land, who are considered "legitimate" under Senegalese customary law); generates a turnover that has steadily increased since its creation; creates jobs; and voluntarily and annually pays a financial amount to the local government for the development of the commune as well as compensation to the farmers who have agreed to cede their land.

The uniqueness of this model of agricultural land use is twofold. Firstly, it is based on the principle of securing private foreign investment without dispossessing local farmers of their land. Secondly, it is based on the logic of sharing the value created with all stakeholders in the region (the local council, the owners of the company, the inhabitants of the municipality, the rightful owners of the cultivated land, etc.).

Its establishment and development are based on the commitment of various stakeholders (foreign investors, the management of the company created, the sub-prefect, the mayor of the municipality, the local population including landowners under Senegalese customary law, etc.) and on the implementation of rules, norms and modes of action that structure and guide the daily interactions between these actors.

By analyzing the individual and collective roles of the different actors as well as the artifacts created and mobilized, this case provides information on the conditions for the effectiveness and sustainability of this partnership governance model.

As part of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) and the subsequent Malabo Declaration on the Transformation of African Agriculture, the African Union Commission (AUC) formulated the goal of increasing agricultural production and improving food security while promoting sustainable agriculture, including agroecological and organic farming. The AUC also adopted the resolution on organic farming (EX.CL/631 (XVIII)) and launched a continental initiative for organic farming in Nairobi in 2013. Ethiopia, as a case study country, has made impressive progress in increasing food production in recent decades; this has been achieved through investment, increased use of inputs, expansion of cultivated land and growth in total factor productivity. However, recent growth rates in the agricultural sector appear to be unsustainable, while some modern agricultural practices are contributing to environmental degradation and food safety concerns. Recognizing these challenges, the Ethiopian government has issued the Ethiopian Organic Agriculture System Regulation No. 488/2006, which is primarily aimed at promoting international recognition and acceptance of Ethiopian organic agriculture, protecting consumers from fraudulent acts and ensuring that all stages of production, processing, storage and marketing of organic agriculture products are subject to inspection and meet standards.

This paper examines success factors, potentials and obstacles for the transition towards organic and agroecological farming systems. It follows a three-stage work program that covers different levels - macro level, sector level and farm level - and uses qualitative methods and policy analysis. The project aims to contribute to gaining insights into the transition towards greener, fairer and more sustainable agricultural systems in Africa.

As part of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) and the subsequent Malabo Declaration on the Transformation of African Agriculture, the African Union Commission (AUC) formulated the goal of increasing agricultural production and improving food security while promoting sustainable agriculture, including agroecological and organic farming. The AUC also adopted the resolution on organic farming (EX.CL/631 (XVIII)) and launched a continental initiative for organic farming in Nairobi in 2013. Ethiopia, as a case study country, has made impressive progress in increasing food production in recent decades; this has been achieved through investment, increased use of inputs, expansion of cultivated land and growth in total factor productivity. However, recent growth rates in the agricultural sector appear to be unsustainable, while some modern agricultural practices are contributing to environmental degradation and food safety concerns. Recognizing these challenges, the Ethiopian government has issued the Ethiopian Organic Agriculture System Regulation No. 488/2006, which is primarily aimed at promoting international recognition and acceptance of Ethiopian organic agriculture, protecting consumers from fraudulent acts and ensuring that all stages of production, processing, storage and marketing of organic agriculture products are subject to inspection and meet standards.

This paper examines success factors, potentials and obstacles for the transition towards organic and agroecological farming systems. It follows a three-stage work program that covers different levels - macro level, sector level and farm level - and uses qualitative methods and policy analysis. The project aims to contribute to gaining insights into the transition towards greener, fairer and more sustainable agricultural systems in Africa.

The merger of Bayer and Monsanto in India has led to the formation of a cartel in the markets for agricultural inputs, particularly seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. Agribusinesses are setting up field stations to develop integrated agricultural solutions to link farmers into global supply chains for agricultural inputs. One such field station is located in Karnal, Haryana, where Bayer Crop Science Ltd has started promoting strategies for integrated farming solutions and promising higher yields to farmers. This project will study the impact of the Bayer field station set up in Karnal in 2015.