Development agency Oxfam International has urged the World Bank to stop investing in large-scale land acquisitions to prevent land grabbing in developing countries. According to a new Oxfam report published on Thursday, the area of land which has been sold off worldwide in the last decade is eight times the size of the United Kingdom. This land could have produced sufficient food for a billion people – the current number of people suffering from hunger. The report “Our Land, Our Lives” shows that between 2000 and 2010 more than 60% of investments in agricultural land made by foreign investors occurred in developing countries with serious hunger problems. The crops produced on this land were either exported or used for biofuel production. “The world is facing an unbridled land rush that is exposing poor people to hunger, violence and the threat of a lifetime in poverty”, commented Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International. The organisation has demanded a temporary freeze of the World Bank’s agricultural investments in land so as to send a clear signal to investors. The moratorium would give the World Bank time to improve standards for transparency in land deals, to ensure the prior consultation of affected communities and to strengthen people’s land rights. Senior bank officials however consider it a mistake to stop the World Bank's involvement at a time of rising food prices and growing interest by foreign investors in farmland.