• FDI in agriculture; plantations; contract farming;

Abstract.
This thesis examines the recent growth in FDI directed towards the agricultural sector of some developing countries, investigating the causes and effects of their increase and promotion. Starting with an overview of the economic theory of agricultural development, the effects of plantation and contract farming schemes on food security and poverty reduction are examined. In the process the theoretical framework developed by some agencies like the World Bank, who are active promoters of FDI, is compared with these theories and with the effects of ongoing investments, taken as case studies. The thesis found some inconsistencies between the aim of the promoters of the investments and, most importantly, between the goals of enhancing food security and reducing poverty together with their effects on the ground: the causes of this gap are identified both in the lack of any form of control on the behavior of the TNCs involved in the investments, and in theoretical and ideological errors made by their promoters. Alternative development paradigms are found in the Food Sovereignty and Agro-ecological theories, approaches that emphasize the centrality of enhancing smallholders’ access to inputs, seeds and markets in order to overcome the problems of rural poverty and food insecurity.