by Natalia Alonso, Head of Oxfam’s EUs office

Today, as part of Oxfam’s on-going Behind the Brands campaign, we are stressing the involvement a few of the leading sugar-based companies have in land-grabbing. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Associated British Foods have all been linked to this practice in their supply chain and, given their leading role in world sugar production, we are striving to push these companies in the right direction.
The process of land-grabbing involves governments signing away vast amounts of lands to multi-national companies, often ignoring legitimate property rights small-scale and subsistence farmers have on the land.
The global appetite for sugar is rapidly growing. Estimated to be worth around $47 billion, the industry produces 176 million tonnes of sugar each year and, with growing demand in the developing world, predictions suggest an astonishing increase in production of 25 per cent by 2020.
The manufacture of processed food goods is one […]

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