Ethiopia

A group of Saudi businessmen have planned to invest over SR1 billion [USD267m] in agricultural projects in Ethiopia and Sudan on a staggered schedule within next few years.

With vast tracts of land being sold in Madagascar, and Sudan and other African governments actively seeking investors in agricultural land, are we witnessing a neo-colonial land grab or will the investment result in greater food productivity to the long-term benefit of recipient nations?

Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest rice importers, has received the first batch of rice to be produced abroad by local investors, state news agency SPA reported on Monday.

King Abdullah received today Saudi Arabia's Minister of Commerce and Industry accompanied by two Saudi businessmen Mohammad Hussein Al-Amoudi and Abdullah Hassan Al-Masri on the occasion of the arrival of the earliest produce of their rice to the Kingdom.

In the largest single agricultural investment, Ethiopia’s richest man Sheik Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi, joined the bio-fuel sector in a joint venture with Jemal Ahmed, one of the biggest edible and palm oil importers in the country.

To lure investment dollars, the Sudan government has removed import duties on agricultural equipment being imported into the country.

Sur les concessions proprement dites, le Soudan a mis à la disposition de notre pays 4200 hectares ce projet sera financé par la Banque Islamique (BI), quant à l’Ethiopie, elle devra délivrer 5000 hectares mais par étapes et cette partie du projet sera financé par la Banque Africaine de Développement (BAD).

Dependence on oil imports may be influencing the Ethiopian government’s decision to lease farmland to Saudi Arabia

The Ethiopian government’s ambitious target of harvesting 28 million tonnes of cereals in the first three quarters of the 2007/2008 budget year has failed. Authorities seem determined to change this situation by leasing huge chunks of land to other sovereign states for mechanised farming.

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Saudi billionaire Mohammed Al Amoudi is finalizing plans for a $300 million sugar plantation in northwestern Ethiopia, the Walta Information Center reported.

La Corée du Sud vient de louer la moitié des terres cultivables de Madagascar. Sur le continent noir, ce type de transaction se multiplie.