>> this is "bbc newsnight." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? uncorks we go to zambia where for investors are bidding to get themselves vast tracts of arable land. >> if you increase the yield to 80%, africa will become a net exporter of food. >> can africa really feed the world and can africans reaped any reward? >the worst famine in generations holds millions hostage. is this from a lack of rainfall or a lack of ethics from the kenyan government? >> we stole from the people. we stole from ourselves and we

are starting as a result. >> on monday, according to the united nations, the 7 billion person will be born. this is just a number but it is unarguable that the population is growing and the earth has never had to support as many people as it does now. we are looking at some of the issues raised by this. hist we have been to zambia to investigate the phenomenon of private equity firms buying up vast farmlands. there's clearly money to be made from earth that once seemed on profitable. >> this is not what we have come to expect from africa. the imagery of plenty offering a tantalizing visions. the idea that africa might not only solve their own problem

also the world's as well. for investors are bidding to buy vast tracts of land. what was the basket case is now presented as a golden opportunity. >> if you just increase the yield to 80% of what the world averages are, africa will become a net or exporter of food. . >> this offer is a unifying symbol and also a place of conflict. this was the rallying cry of liberation. across much of the continent, this saw many condemned to poverty. the agriculture of slash and burn still dominates. once the burning is over, they will borrow some oxen from a friend. they will have enough to feed

themselves and their family and also to bring some to the market. of course, what happened is not just better yields, people in africa have built their villages, their community, their sense of identity around the land. >> for the subsistence farmer, this is the nature of pressing questions about the investors scrambling for africa. there is a lot of talk about foreigners coming, chinese, people from zimbabwe, south africa. how do you feel about this? >> this is the government policy. the government can do this and this is ok if they feel that they will develop and they will let the people stay there. otherwise, we are worried because we will lose all of the land. that will leave us with nothing. >> in an age of food and security, as prices rise across

the globe, there is pressure to dramatically change the way that the land of africa is cultivated. 50 years after the end of the colonial order, zambia is opening its doors to foreigners once more. >> there are excellent conditions for agriculture, the climate, the amount of water, the quality of the soil. >> this is the zambian bush. hear, the british firm has leased an existing commercial farm of 25,000 acres. their aim is to maximize profit by maximizing yields. >> the best yield is about 14.2 pounds. >> this man runs the operation. he used to farm in zimbabwe before it being driven off the

land. he says it is possible to get 30 times the yield obtained through farming. the achieve this through economies of scale, better irrigations, and a new approach to soil. >> you can extract nutrients from the soil. >> this is vulnerable to more efficient farming. the farm labor depends for accommodation, medical care, education for the children. this project backed by the world bank and the tax breaks promises to create jobs. in a country where more than 60% live below the poverty line, this is a seductive argument. we met part-time workers. >> we are not waiting anywhere. >> you want long-term

employment? >> yes. >> there have been significant job losses. wherever in the world you have had farming being industrialized, people have lost their jobs. already here people are losing their jobs. >> the last skilled jobs, yes. as a result of mechanization, some of that work goes away. what we are able to do through building a large scale businesses to train people and to higher value added, highly skilled jobs. they can transport those skills into other sectors. >> it is a fact that the majority of your profit is going to go abroad. it will not benefit people here. >> profit this the way in which investors are benefited by putting their capital at risk. the value of those days right

here. >> when some via began to walk into a commercial operators, a compelling argument is that they would pass on skills to neighboring farmers. everyone would be a winner. these small holders say they have had no help and with no access to capital, these men and women struggle to increase their yield. >> you cannot get a loan? >> know. >> what about being able to form in a way, do you get any help? >> not really. there is no interaction. >> they least an existing commercial farm and they displaced no one. elsewhere, vast tracts of land

occupied by peasant farmers are offered to bigger scale investors. this is one of nine proposed developments where several thousand people live. locals are told that the forms must be cleared and families are moved off of their farmland. >> our house was on a demarcation line. we were forced to move. our house has been demolished, they did not offer us any alternative land and we have not had any compensation. >> here, they already produce enough grain to produce for themselves and sell a healthy surplus. seven years ago, these people were given a written promise by the government that it would not be removed from their land. >> we saw people coming with

machinery and they started marking out the roads. they told us that we would be moved off the land and the land would be used for development. >> the problem is that most byzantium's have no legal titles. nearly all land is owned by the state, which can be sit to whoever it wants. >> at the moment, a lot of people to know know their rights on their own land. they don't have pieces of paper or titles and therefore they cannot protect it. >> across africa, chinese, indians, middle eastern companies are investing in farm land. we saw signs of change in zambia. >> we cannot be putting people out and leaving it to their own devices. that is in human even if the world under somehow touched

>> in the capital, there is a new government. championing the poor is the vice president. a white farmer who is scrutinizing land deals and the claim made by investors that they will bring jobs. >> i would like this and all you would. i would like it a value added properly, the truth of the claim. >> you sound very skeptical. >> yes, i am skeptical. i want to know with the justifications look like. i would say 90% of what is promised or projected. >> will you be much tougher about the way that land is parceled out in this country? >> absolutely. yes, we will be far more

circumspect about land issues, about land use issues and a lot more circumspect about what happens to the dispossessed population. >> there is a genuine dilemma, as demand for food grows, there is pressure to make african land more productive. the danger is that a volatile new dynamic is created, a landless master of and by resentment on those who wish to make a profit by feeding the world. >> more than half a million people have fled from somalia into kenya thanks to the worst drought in decades. that country is facing an old food crisis and a tent is already dependent on food aid. we have been to one of the worst affected areas in the remote north of the country and we found a crisis compounded by decades of corruption.

>> the burning where it yielded nothing. to many seasons without rain have turned the ground to dust. like so much of the rest of the horn of africa, the lands are in the grip of drought. these are nomadic past oralist who depend on the grain for grazing. -- these are nomadic past or lists. this emergency feeding center is providing rations for malnourished children. the animals on which these people depended for a living, have died. a tribe which is among the most resilient and self-sufficient in the world is reduced. all morning, people have been continuing to ride as news

spreads that food and medical help is available. if you remember that this is just one village out of hundreds across this region, but we get a sense of the magnitude of this drought. >> i have set out to discover why there is no food security in a country that has received billions in international aid over decades. drought caused by climate change is certainly a major problem. and the fact that kenya host more than half a million starving refugees from somalia. the crisis has other murky routes. >> got made the droughts, then make famines. we stole from ourselves and we are starting as a result. >> across east africa, the brunt of the food crisis is borne by

communities like these. perhaps been some government sponsored irrigation projects but the overwhelming sense is often neglected. the infrastructure here is meager and much of it crumbling. this man sells water to his fellow villagers that he drives from the dead as a holdout river. >> we feel rejected by the government. i don't understand why they don't offer help. why don't they offer any assistance? they have a lot of funds but none of it trickles down here. >> the official line of the government is to blame the drought for this crisis. the international community and the government have now mounted a massive relief operation.

a record 70 million pounds was donated in britain. what is unfolding is not simply the consequence of drought, the food crisis is above all a crisis of governance. we cannot separate the imagery from the corruption that has characterized the rule. three years ago, they knew they were facing a severe drought. yet it has emerged that the officials salt much of the grain reserve to middlemen and subsidized prices. the middlemen then sold this on to the local markets at exorbitant rates. >> well-connected people. it is the coldest most merciless kind of corruption.

this time, people are dying. >> yes, it in nairobi, the authors of the scandal have gone unpunished by the lot like so many before them. an estimated one-third of the country's budget might finish to corruption every year. food aid in this case from saudi arabia is used to make up the shortfall in the supply. it is one i met the minister responsible for the relief effort, she was remarkably candid about what corruption has done to our country. >> i think it has ruined us because if a son sees his father stealing, he thinks that is the way to do things and until we prosecute with impunity, then it

will remain a problem. >> the higher your reach, the better the message will be because occasionally and what the plight has been beset -- is that you support the big fish. >> some of your government colleagues might be nervous. they might not be happy with you. >> if you are correct, you don't have to. -- if you are corrupt, you don't have to. >> british aid has been used to try and stimulate day local market. 21st century technology is harnessed in the most remote places. these women run a small shops

with grants they receive from oxfam. this goes directly to the people. -- they get in line with the smart cards but instead of a signature, they use their thumb print. >> all my animals died in a was forced to beg for food. this is allowed me to open of for business. now, i can afford to feed my family. >> a way of life dependent on a regular rain is threatened, perhaps terminally. you're on the shores, a scheme is encouraging people to turn to fishing to make a living.

this man lost a huge flock of animals. for him, the end is always far away. >> there is a small amount of aid from the government but i have not had any help. some get the food, others live without. >> it says much about the scale of the crisis facing the pasteur list and people who used to not even eat fish and a sense of themselves was built around from the land and they should find themselves here as part of the community. the big issue is that many more thousands will have to change their way of life but it is whether they can survive at all in this part of africa. the forces ranged against these people are daunting.

climate change, rising food prices, corruption. >> how important is it to end the culture of impunity and to get away with looting this country? i if you don't solve that, can see this for the zero next 20 years. i don't know. >> the world can for any amount into kenya. the ngo's can work to mitigate the drought. the central truth of the story is that under is ultimately a matter of politics. -- under -- hunger is ultimately a matter of politics. >> we talked to the patron of

the group population matters which is looking to make the population is disabled. >> what is a sustainable operation? >> can you -- i would not like to give an estimate. >> can we continue this growth? >> let's put this right up there. we have 7 billion people today and the growth rate of the world population stays at about 2%. it has gone down gradually since then. there are 7 billion people in the world today. the mump to have a group photograph, it would be about the size of los angeles. this is not about space, this is about distribution come up

equity, social justice. >> if you really believe that people can live that closely cramped together -- >> this is a pointless comparison. >> it is a comparison you have to make. >> why would you make that kind of figure? why would you put a figure? >> in the mid 60's, everyone said that there was a population explosion and that the world would not be able to sustain. we talked about a lack of food and we produced more than 300% rise in food. .> i'm not saying that we can >> , about 9.5 billion people, we're going to run out of fresh water costs and that is even if that fresh water was evenly

distributed throughout the earth which we know it is not. the real limit is before that. >> i have told you, i don't work with this. >> that is just political correctness. >> no, i tell you. i think we have to look at this. this is not just about growth. there are many other issues in population. >> shortage of water is a problem. yes, it is to everyone. what i want to look at is that there are issues around organization. >> at what point that i think all of this last week, i have seen these programs asking the question how many people can the earth support? ultimately, that is the wrong question. this is not a question of

absolute capacity, this is a question of what number is optimal, what is a good future for the human race? if we allow our numbers to multiplied up to the u.n. top projection which is 16 billion, what is life like for those people? that is the proper question to ask. if that is not the kind of life that we want to live, if this is on the edge of the ability to feed people, maybe we should take some action now. i feel that populations and government funding have gone distracted in the last 20 years. the emphasis has been on improving women's rights, which is good in itself, right? >> they tend to have less children.

educated women have fewer children. >> yes. >> once we empower women, which are different and which tend to ensure that you have less babies, and better quality of life? >> i completely agree but one of the things that helps women is just having birth control. that is what i mean that population organizations and government policy have to focus and a ligritty of his making sut people who don't have access to family planning have it. >> there's one point that have to be made that if the health have to be provided, you know, to build women rights, it is not just about that but also the prevention of hiv.

>> ok. >> is not just contraception. >> that is all for this week. from all of us, goodbye. >> makes sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc newsnight" was presented by kcet, los angeles.