Sudan

L’achat massif de ces terres aux seules fins de spéculation financière porte en lui le germe du conflit, du désastre environnemental, du chaos politique et de la faim à un degré jamais connu dans le passé, écrit Joan Baxter.

As food aid stamped with the World Food Programme's logo is shipped to Sudan, thousands of tons of wheat and rice are shipped out.

Qatar is one of the leading investors in the agricultural sector in Sudan, says a former minister of irrigation of Egypt.

“We are now looking very seriously into Sudan,” said Zouhair Eloudghiri, chief executive officer of Savola Foods Co., a unit of Saudi Arabia’s second-largest publicly traded food producer, Savola Al-Azizia United Co.

Sudan's minister of state for investment said yesterday he expects investments of $6-7 billion in the country in 2010, adding that Africa's largest nation is seeing increased interest in its agricultural sector.

US embassy in Kuwait reports on discussions with Kuwaiti officials on acquiring farmland overseas for food security or profit

Qatar has embarked on a food-security programme to make it more self-sufficient and help the communities around its farmland projects in developing countries.

Hassad Food plans to invest all over the world. “Latin America, Asia, you name it,” says Al Hajri, “Where we invest, we make profit. If Qatar is in need of that production, Hassad has the pleasure to sell to Qatar at no special rate.”

The Jordanian government is considering a proposal by a regional private company to participate in a project to invest in Sudanese agricultural land, a senior government official said on Saturday.

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.

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.

"I think it is not right to sell or give your land to foreigners... until you have exhausted every local possibility," said Osama Daoud, chief executive of the Sudanese DAL group which runs large agricultural projects.