Vietnam

Saudi Arabian investors are looking to expand their agricultural investments in the United States to secure long-term food supply because of water shortages in the desert kingdom, Saudi officials said on Thursday.

But company says it does not want to tarnish Saudi Arabia's image by buying farmlands abroad

Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triet, current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, pledged to bolster Saudi-ASEAN cooperation in view of ASEAN's reliance on the Gulf states' oil and the Gulf states' need for overseas farmland for their own food security.

Vietnam's president Nguyen Minh Triet on Saturday met Saudi business leaders who asked for flexible investment regulations and access to Vietnam's farmlands

"Qatar is in the process of formulating a national strategy for food security that we expect to shift from a focus on land ownership in developing countries to land leases and joint ventures with the private sector in developed countries," reports the US Embassy in Doha

UAE foreign investment in food production have so far focused on leasing Pakistan and Sudan’s agricultural land, with new prospects in Cambodian rice, Canadian wheat and Australian beef. Alongside the strategic deals at the national level, private investment has followed which should open new channels of trade, for example, Al Qudra Holding has plans to grow grain and vegetables in Vietnam and Croatia as well as Pakistan.

"Our proposition to the governments is that we can help them develop the infrastructure and develop the farmland and we will then take a share of the produce," says KCIC

In a bid to boost rice production, the government of Anambra is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Vietnam Africa Agricultural Development Company (VAADC) to begin mechanised production of rice.

Saudi Arabia announces the launch of Agroinvest, which will focus on farm acquisitions abroad to grow wheat, rice, soybeans and other crops in Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan and Turkey

Pursuing its strategy of penetrating the Middle East market, the company has set up a special committee to study the possibility to increase exports to the region. So far, the company has signed a farming contract with Bahrain for supplying food products.

Mauritius has secured a large area of land in Mozambique to produce hybrid rice for export back hom through a joint venture with a Singaporean company.

Nigeria allows foreigners -- like Thailand's Riceland International Co -- to lease land for growing rice and to run rice-related businesses including milling and processing.