Malawi

Oxfam concerned that land grabbing not being addressed adequately and with enough of a sense of urgency.

SilverStreet is scouting for commercial farms in five countries — Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Vaughan-Smith and his team of seven professionals are scouting for commercial farms in five countries — Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia — where conditions are deemed to be the most favorable.

Malawi's Civil Society Agriculture Network (Cisanet) argue that government is fuelling foreigner land grab at the expense of the welfare of locals.

Au niveau institutionnel, le gouvernement a mis en place cette année, la Société Djiboutienne de Sécurité Alimentaire qui est chargée notamment de la mise en œuvre et la gestion des projets de sécurité alimentaire sur des milliers d'hectares de terres fertiles mis à la disposition de notre pays par l'Ethiopie, le Soudan, et le Malawi.

"Jamais deux sans trois", dit-on. L'adage se vérifie avec la concession du Malawi, après l'Ethiopie, de quelques 55 000 ha de terres agricoles en faveur de Djibouti.

Farm Radio International writer Gladson Makowa, visited a Malawian community where small-scale farmland was transformed into a sugarcane plantation. He reports on how locals are coping with the loss of farmland and hoping to keep their houses.

Yes Bank expects a $150 million Tanzanian rice and wheat project to reach full production by 2011, the first of several large African farms it is funding. "We are looking at a more inclusive model wherein the local farmers can be organised into a producers company, and they would be the suppliers to the processing facility. It's predominantly not to acquire huge tracts of land."

African nations are becoming more cautious in selling farmland to foreign investors, with governments paying closer attention to deals that could lead to social unrest, AGRA says

Most Chinese investment in African agriculture is concentrated in southern Africa: Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi and, increasingly, Angola.

Mohammed Mbwana, who farms in the Tana River delta area and is an official of a local NGO, said the Qatar agreement would displace thousands of locals. At least 150,000 families in farming and pastoralist communities depend on the land in question, said to be part of Kenya’s biggest wetland.

Malawi has agreed to lease arable land to Djibouti for crop production, leaders of the two countries have disclosed, the Nations reported on Tuesday.