ZTE

Sinochem and ZTE Energy, an agribusiness arm of the Shenzhen-based telecoms manufacturer, both bid for 150,000 hectares of palm-oil plantations in 2012, but were promptly rejected.

A slide show by GRAIN that profiles some of those who have been most actively pursuing or supporting farmland grabs around the world.

With demand for food rising with China's growing population and economy, domestic companies are looking to boost investments in resource-rich foreign countries such as Brazil and Indonesia to fill the food supply gap at home.

With publication of the Land Matrix, the inaccurate claims of a 2.8 million ha land deal by China's ZTE in Congo are alive again. Here's a look at the facts.

A law meant to breathe new life into agriculture in Democratic Republic of Congo risks scaring off needed foreign investment due to a clause calling for farms to be majority-owned by Congolese, according to investors and other sector players.

China and other nations are making Laos an industrial farm, to the detriment of its ecology

The Chinese company ZTE received an allocation of approximately 10,000 hectares of land from the Ministry of Agriculture. The deal aims at boosting production of wheat and maize, state media reported.

Some Laotian farmers are losing their ancestral lands or being forced to become wage workers on what were once their fields

Beijing is adding agricultural investments to its “go outward” strategy, under which domestic businesses are encouraged to venture into foreign markets.

As Beijing scrambles to feed its galloping economy, it has already scoured the world for mining and logging concessions. Now it is turning to crops to feed its people and industries. Chinese enterprises are snapping up vast tracts of land abroad and forging contract farming deals.