Seychelles hotel cancelled

This article originally appeared in The Guardian

The Seychelles has cancelled a large new hotel development that was to be have been built on prime agricultural land, following strong objections from local residents worried about food security.

The archipelago country, which is heavily dependent on imported food, has been hit badly by the global financial crisis, with the government forced to seek emergency funding for the IMF. Critics accuse the authorities of ignoring food concerns by offering arable land to foreign investors looking to build luxury resorts.

"The proposed project will not go ahead and the land will remain state property," Jacquelin Dugasse, the development minister, said. "The strong feeling was that we should not stop agricultural development when food security is an issue."

The 20-hectare (49-acre) resort was to have been built by an unnamed foreign investor.

The use and ownership of arable land has become a heated issue in Africa since the global food shortage and resultant...

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