“When the land is gone, so is the food” — Using data-driven approaches to demand corporate accountability
The documentary “When the land is gone, so is the food” presents a vivid account of how land grabbing across Africa undermines food security and community survival. Produced by the Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN) and Different Perspectives with Paul Ndiho, the film illustrates how fertile land is taken away from smallholder farmers and handed over to commercial enterprises. Often, this is undertaken under dubious circumstances, such as contracts signed under intoxication, stretched over 99 years, or agreed to at exploitative rates (as low as five dollars per hectare). This act of community dispossession destroys the ability of communities to grow food and sustain their families, leaving them vulnerable and dependent.
Drawing heavily on Land Matrix data to highlight the gap between corporate promises and actual delivery, the film traces AFJN’s work in Ghana since 2014 to prevent unjust land acquisitions and promote responsible and transparent agricultural investment that respects the rights of local communities and smallholder farmers. Importantly, the film also provided a platform for the AFJN to publicly demand accountability from governments and corporations. In doing so, it demonstrated how partnerships between data providers and advocacy groups can translate evidence into actionable impact, for example, through training communities to understand and reject exploitative contracts, thereby empowering them to resist dispossession. As one community elder in Ghana pointed out, “Had you not come today, we could even have sold this mountain.” This a powerful reminder of the positive gains now being realised.
The Land Matrix Regional Focal Point (RFP) for Africa, the Resource Conflict Institute (RECONCILE), was instrumental in collecting, analysing, refining, and synthesising the data used in the documentary to reveal corporate accountability gaps and the marginalisation of local communities in negotiations. This work included using information from the Land Matrix database to undertake a contextual analysis of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in Africa, with a particular focus on Ghana’s agricultural sector. RECONCILE also used the data to produce an updated country profile for Ghana, which served as the foundation for scripting the documentary.
The documentary was launched at a special live-broadcast screening, which was followed by a panel discussion on one of the most urgent challenges facing rural communities across Africa: land grabbing and its impact on food security, livelihoods, and community stability. The panel brought together a diverse set of speakers, including RECONCILE’s Executive Director, Ken Otieno, who addressed the issue from the perspective of resource governance and community rights. Moderated by Dr Steven Nabieu Rogers, who expertly wove together the different voices to show the complexity of the issue. The discussion also featured Father Aniedi Okure, who spoke about justice and peace from a faith-based standpoint, Jaff Napoleon Bamenjo, who emphasised the importance of policy advocacy in the fight against hunger, Nasako Besingi, who discussed environmental protection and grassroots mobilisation, and Sister Ignatia Safowaa Buaben, who shared insights from her direct work with communities in Ghana.
Ken’s contributions to the panel added a deeply personal dimension: he emphasised that land is not only an economic resource, but also a source of identity, dignity, and continuity. His reflections stress that losing land means losing culture, heritage, and the future of generations to come. Further, he grounds the documentary in lived experience and makes clear the tensions that exist between livelihoods and investment promises, and how data therefore forms a central point in the protection of resource-dependent communities. Finally, he provided a way forward in terms of pinpointing the role of local communities in safeguarding and protecting local lands in light of increasing burdens from shifting investment pressures such as conservation, carbon offset, transition minerals, and clean energy development.
Taken together, the documentary and the panel discussion underscore that land grabbing is not simply an economic injustice. It threatens sovereignty, erodes culture, and risks sparking conflict. Yet the film is also a call to action: it urges governments, civil society, and international partners to prioritise community-centred land governance and ensure that agricultural investment strengthens rather than displaces local communities.
View the expert panel discussion and documentary screening here.
