India

Indian companies are looking at agricultural outsourcing by opting for cheaper options in neighbouring countries so as to produce things at less cost, making this sector lucrative to the PE firms

AN extraordinary new process has been at work in the past few years: the aggressive entry of Indian corporations into the markets for agricultural land in Africa, writes Jayati Gosh

A plan to replace a large swathe of protected rainforest in Uganda with sugarcane could lead to further civil unrest in a year when nine people have been killed during strikes and protests against the rising cost of living.

En proposant d’injecter 2,5 milliards de dollars (1,7 milliard d’euros) dans le secteur agricole du continent noir, les géants indiens de l’agroalimentaire s’apprêtent à battre le record des deals agricoles signés en Afrique au cours des cinquante dernières années.

Karuturi Global plans to plant 20,000 hectares of land with Sorghum, rice, maize, sunflower and soybeans in Bako area of Oromia regional state and Gambella regional state, by November 2011

As Indian businessmen bet on cash crops, it’s unclear whether food security issues are being tackled

The likelihood of Ethiopia facing stiff competition from Tanzania and Uganda in attracting investment from Indian agri-businesses reared its head during a visit from a 35 member delegation last week.

Les affaires sont les affaires: des entreprises indiennes d’agroalimentaire sont prêtes à investir plus d’un milliard d’euros en Ethiopie, Tanzanie et Ouganda

Northern Uganda has offered Indian agricultural investors land to carry out commercial farming. This offer will be under joint venture agreements with the locals.

Nirmal Seeds wants not more than 30,000 hectares of land in Tanzania to invest in seeds production to feed the local market.

Last week, Uganda received a 35 man business delegation from India interested in the country’s agribusiness potential and boosting its exploits. Mr Ramakrishna Karuturi, the leader of the delegation, said the team intends to invest up to $2 billion in agribusiness pending the issue of investment licences.

The President informed them of 3 available modules of investment that they could take advantage of including processing without getting involved in physical production where an investor buys products from farmers, processes them or engage in core plantation and process the produce into finished items or contracting out-growers so that they as a community of producers can benefit.