Egypt: Seeking to grow cereals on African farmland
- IRIN
- 11 October 2010
Addis Abaaba has decided to withdraw from the regional governments the right of attributing leases of over 1,000 ha. However, the 2010 federal budget lists no income whatsoever, and no information on this subject appears in the quarterly reports of the National Bank of Ethiopia.
The two months we spent in the Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia, surveying smallholders and profiling large-scale commercial farms, left us with a different impression.
Contract is for 10,000 ha in the Regional State of Gambela for a period of 25 years, with option for renewal.
The people of Ethiopia have a question for you and the government of Ethiopia you represent, “Why are you giving away our land to foreigners?”
Punjab-based farmers are set to acquire 50,000 ha of farm land on lease in Ethiopia for growing high-value cash crops, including pulses and maize, for export to India and Europe.
Tensions against Indian companies acquiring farmland in Ethiopia are mounting, according to Tehelka
Anywaa Survival Organisation would like to call upon indigenous people to resist this kind of land grabbing effort of the Ethiopian government, now acknowledged by a World Bank report
UNCTAD believes pension funds, with their apparent focus on reputation, accountability, and the long term, could set new best-practice standards as they join the farmland investment trend.
Gambela’s new tag as a land grabbing hub comes as BHO Agro Plc becomes the third Indian firm to begin operations in the region after two other Indian companies, Karuturi and Ruchi Group, moved into Gambela in 2008 and early 2010, respectively.
African governments need to raise their level of accountability and ensure that they improve and protect their own food security through quid pro quo side-agreements negotiated when they lease or sell their arable land to foreign interests, says Keith Mullin of Thompson Reuters
Africa, where one in three people is malnourished, is now growing tomatoes and butter lettuce for export.
Zombo leaders give 10 acres of land for constructing a tea factory
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