Middle East & Africa | City slickers on the farm

Africa’s real land grab

Never mind foreign interlopers. African urbanites are scooping up more land

My other car is a Porsche
|MOROGORO

AFTER half an hour poking around Martin Shem’s farm, Paul Kavishe is impressed, even a little jealous. “He has done well,” says Mr Kavishe. “He’s a real farmer!” This is strange praise, not because Mr Shem’s dairy, maize and mango-growing operation on the outskirts of Morogoro is not admirable, but because both men have had university careers. For middle-class Tanzanians, though, a successful farmer trumps a successful academic.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Africa’s real land grab”

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