Kazakhstan decided Aug. 18 to extend for five years a recently imposed moratorium on the implementation of controversial amendments to its land law.
The earliest land protests took place in 2003 when Kazakhstan entered into an agreement with China to rent 7,000 hectares of land – a deal that would have employed 3,000 Chinese workers.
Members of Kazakhstan’s Land Reform Commission voted for an extension, until the end of 2021, of the moratorium on leasing Kazakh agricultural land to foreigners
While there is near consensus that foreigners should not have the right to own farmland in Kazakhstan, opinions are deeply divided on the issue of granting leases to foreigners.
From late April to late May several public events were attended by between 1,000 and 2,000 people across the country
Protesters fear that the changes would make it easier for large Chinese agribusinesses to take control of vast swaths of farmland.
La population du Kazakhstan se mobilise contre un projet de réforme agraire permettant aux étrangers, notamment à la Chine, de louer des terres pour 25 ans au lieu de 10 actuellement.
Kazakhstan's government, facing a wave of unrest over farmland privatisation plans, invited some opponents of the reform to join a commission set up on Thursday to review it.
Kazakh National Economy Minister Yerbolat Dossayev resigned on May 5 after almost two weeks of protests against amendments to the Land Code that critics say would enable foreigners to buy more land.
The protests were sparked by opposition to a legal overhaul that will allow the government to sell farmland to joint ventures, provided they are controlled by Kazakh residents, and lease it to foreigners for up to 25 years. Opponents of the new law, who staged their first protest in the city of Atyrau last Sunday, see the change as a threat to national security, especially after the government announced several agreements with neighboring China for agricultural projects.
Protest in Kazakh city of Atyrau comes as public fears grow that changes in the Land Code could allow sales of land to foreigners, though the government has said this will not happen.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is in advanced talks to buy a stake in Miner and commodity trader Glencore Plc's agricultural business, which has farming operations covering 270,000ha in Argentina, Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine.
