in the last decade, Sub-Saharan African countries received considerable attention in large scale land-based investments. These interests have focused mostly on large scale plantation agriculture, forestry and related investments which required the acquisition of land on a large scale. While some of the investments were implemented successfully after the acquisition of the land, others could not progress to full development due to several challenges.

For instance, experiences from several communities in Mozambique indicate that for most of these investments, the procedures for the acquisition of land and the implementation of the project have left many local farmers and community inhabitants with impacts that have received no attention. In other cases, investors have also suffered from many challenges that result from the weak land governance and the complexities in the customary land governance systems.

As a result of these challenges, land-based investments have produced limited socio-economic and environmental benefits contrary to what they were designed to deliver.