Do Foreign Land Acquisitions (FLA) in Africa increase the use of water? This paper provides empirical evidence about the impact of FLA on the water content of goods exported from African countries. A dynamic panel gravity-like equation is estimated to explain the pattern of African agri-food exports, of total Virtual Water exports, and of the green and blue Virtual Water components. Results suggest that FLA in African countries increase exports and that, by changing the composition of traded products, they imply an increase in overall water consumption both green and blue. However, a differentiated pattern emerges depending upon the origin of the investing firm. While investments coming from North and South America tend not to affect the water content of African exports, this is not the case for FLA from other parts of the world.

非洲的外国土地收购 (FLA) 是否会增加用水量？本文提供了关于 FLA 对非洲国家出口货物含水量影响的经验证据。估计一个动态面板重力式方程来解释非洲农业食品出口、虚拟水出口总量以及绿色和蓝色虚拟水分量的模式。结果表明，非洲国家的 FLA 增加了出口，并且通过改变贸易产品的组成，它们意味着绿色和蓝色的总体用水量增加。然而，根据投资公司的起源，出现了差异化的模式。虽然来自北美和南美的投资往往不会影响非洲出口的水含量，但世界其他地区的 FLA 却并非如此。