Madagascar

All hedge funds that trade in food commodities should be required to register, the UN’s expert on the right to food Olivier De Schutter told the Press on Monday. Index derivatives should be prohibited and only “useful trading… hedging not speculation” should be allowed, in order to protect the poor and hungry from the market.

Cette partie de monopoly planétaire inquiète au plus haut niveau.

Contract farming deal between the Indian corporation Varun Agriculture and 13 association in Sofia, Madagascar (January 2009)

Refuged under a shelter as a downpour drenched the village square of Ambalavy in northwest Madagascar, André Rabenampiana says he knows the wood "varona" but has never heard of the Indian company Varun International.

Réfugié sous un abri alors que des trombes d'eau s'abattent sur la place du village d'Ambalavy, dans le nord-ouest de Madagascar, André Rabenampiana connaît bien le bois "varona", mais n'a jamais entendu parler de la société indienne "Varun".

A move by Madagascar's army-backed leader to nix a huge South Korean farming deal has exposed the risks of such ventures in Africa, where land remains an emotive issue prone to populist or nationalist opposition.

Deposed President Marc Ravalomanana brought the house of Madagascar down upon himself. But he has been replaced by a young untested leader who, although he has some public support, is full of himself and clearly contemptuous of democratic institutions. The result is that investment in Madagascar, and perhaps across the continent, will be hurt, writes Stephen Hayes

Le nouveau président de Madagascar a annoncé l’annulation du projet agricole de Daewoo Logistics

South Korea’s project to transform Madagascar into its breadbasket, branded by some as neo-colonial, came to an abrupt end on Wednesday when the Indian Ocean island’s new president said he would shelve the plan.

A deal for South Korea's Daewoo Logistics to lease over 1 million hectares of Madagascar to grow food crops is off, the island's new leader said on Wednesday.

Daewoo Logistics, the South Korean company, said on Wednesday that it was confident that Madagascar’s new government would support a plan to lease a huge tract of farmland on the island to grow food crops to send back to Seoul.

The truth is that if exploitation of a developing country’s natural resources by the West is colonialism, so it is when rich countries of the South do the same.