Financial investments in land and agro-industrial chains are nothing new. The United States and Argentina know them all too well, but the scale of their expansion in Brazil is setting the stage for a new generation of dispossessed people. The Investment Funds in Agro-Industrial Production Chains (FIAGROS) promise that anyone can become an agribusiness “partner” by investing 10 Brazilian reals (USD 2), offering returns that often exceed domestic interest rates.
Three years after the launch of the first Fiagros in Brazil, experts are warning that agribusiness is trying to sell a pig in a poke, to cover up the sector's economic, ecological and social bankruptcy, in addition to the high risk of these investments.
With this idea that everyone can be an “agro partner”, these funds are snatching people's savings to finance the expansion of the agro-industry and everything that historically goes with it. Seizing people's savings to finance more land enclosures, exploitation of labour and grabbing of natural resources may be one of the most perverse consequences of this new agribusiness financial strategy.
Read the full report at: https://grain.org/e/7138
