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This research forms part of a larger study on large-scale land acquisition in Uganda. There are three main components of this study: (1) a “risk map” that identifies areas “at risk” for land acquisition due to their high suitability for biofuel crop production; (2) a due diligence report on the existing land uses and users of land identified as “at risk” in the first activity; and (3) an assessment of the land acquisition process, including applicable social and environmental safeguards.
Significantly, the results of Activity 3 highlighted that agricultural suitability is only one of many factors that influence which lands are acquired for large-scale agro-investments in Uganda. In fact, Uganda’s complex land tenure context makes it difficult for investors to acquire land that may otherwise be ‘suitable’ for investment. This suggests that identifying lands at risk of land acquisition based solely on their suitability for commercial agriculture would not accurately predict the location of future investments in Uganda. However, no geographical data on land rights in Uganda are available at a small-enough scale to inform land use planning. At the same time, compared to other countries in Africa where the impacts of large-scale land acquisitions have been well documented, relatively little has been published on the impacts of recent agro-investments in Uganda, particularly investments outside the protected estate1. Therefore, this paper seeks to draw attention to the potential social and environmental impacts of future agro-investments in Uganda by presenting existing evidence from recent agro-investments.
