The Saudi Binladin Group's $4.3 billion planned investment in Papua, east Indonesia, to develop rice fields has stalled because of problems acquiring land from local people.
Un accord entre le gouvernement et une entreprise indonésienne, la GTLeste Biotech, est en gestation depuis le mois de mars. Il est question d'un bail de location – renouvelable – de cinquante ans pour 100 000 hectares de terre destinés à la production de canne à sucre.
K S Oils, one of India’s leading integrated edible oil food companies Wednesday announced further acquisition of 53,000 acres of land for palm oil plantations in Indonesia. This brings the company’s land bank in Indonesia to 1,38,000 acres [56,000 ha], the largest owned by any Indian company.
Several companies like Mitsubishi Corporation are interested in promoting Merauke as a new rice barn in Asia.
The government is preparing a regulation which will put some restrictions on foreign investment in the food industry, including on the length of the investment, and the joint ownership with local firms.
“Our people have already surveyed several areas to choose the right place for planting basmati rice. The investment will be huge,” says Ambassador Khayyat.
The Korea Rural Community Corporation, under the Agriculture Ministry, said it is also in talks with other resource-rich countries about deals in exchange for support for the construction of agricultural infrastructure or farms. Among the negotiating partners mentioned were Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Senegal and Mongolia.
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
Ray White Rural chairman Paul White said there was interest in Australian rural property from Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian investment groups, looking to secure their food supply for the future.
Will Malaysia be emulating other nations by looking abroad to plant staple crops like rice, or rear cows, goats, chicken and fish to secure a sustainable food supply?
KS Oils acquires additional 14,000 HA land for oil palm plantations in Indonesia, owning a total of 34,000 ha.
If Indonesia decides to go ahead with leasing farmland, it should do so with caution, keeping an eye on both the risks and the opportunities. We need to understand that we have a very strong bargaining position.
