This paper hopes to contribute to understanding the risks and impacts associated with agricultural land acquisitions by examining the processes by which agricultural land acquisitions take place in two countries in Africa: Mozambique and Tanzania. The legislated steps and processes involved as well as actual practices—based on existing literature—will be reviewed. Next, these processes will be benchmarked against international standard under the principle of free, prior, and informed consent, which provides the strongest guidance on community participation. The paper will then give some policy options and recommendations moving forward.