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.
El empresario danés casi no puede creer en su suerte en el norte de Uganda. "En realidad quería comprar tierra en el sur, cerca de Kampala -revela- pero el gobierno me ofreció tierras en el norte por un tercio del precio."
Three options both governments were looking at are whether Egyptian investors would own and cultivate farmland, whether land would be owned in partnership with Egypt and Uganda, or whether land would be owned as a concession right.
While the proposed deal brings up ethical questions of exploitation, another concern is how it will impact earth changes and food security in the future.
Uganda has agreed to allow Egypt to cultivate wheat on Ugandan soil.
Egypt, the world's top wheat importer, said on Monday it will send a committee to inspect suitable farmland in Uganda to grow wheat.
L’idée n’est pas nouvelle, mais elle fait son chemin depuis la tenue, les 14 et 15 novembre à Addis-Abeba, du premier forum économique entre l’Arabie saoudite et les pays d’Afrique de l’Est. Une manifestation qui a permis à Riyad de plaider sa cause et de renouveler son intérêt pour les terres agricoles de cette partie du continent.
Stephen Murphy, managing director of institutional fundraising, said the firm had eyed agriculture and infrastructure investments in Uganda.
Farmland deals in Africa inked by private Egyptian firms, commonly called "land grabs," could help the import-dependent nation get access to grain when markets spike, Egypt's agriculture minister Amin Abaza said. "This is going to be a private initiative."
Hebei Company plans to grow its operations -- wheat, maize, rice, vegetable and livestock production for the local, Chinese and European markets -- to about 100,000 acres [40,500 ha] of land in 8-10 years.
South Africa said on Friday it had been offered 48 square miles of land in Angola and Uganda and also a land lease agreement in Zambia.
Citadel, which also announced on Tuesday that it was investing in 500,000 feddans (210,000 hectares) of farmland in Sudan, is also looking to potential investments elsewhere in Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia.
