Sudan

With vast tracts of land being sold in Madagascar, and Sudan and other African governments actively seeking investors in agricultural land, are we witnessing a neo-colonial land grab or will the investment result in greater food productivity to the long-term benefit of recipient nations?

AOAD Director-General Salim Allowzi said the private sector in the Arab World needs to step up investment in farming projects to cut the massive import bill, ensure enough farm products for the region and bolster food security.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are worldwide leaders in buying farmland in third-party countries, followed by China and Japan, says the World Bank.

Un financier new-yorkais vient d'acquérir 400 000 hectares de terres au Soudan. En plus de constituer l'une des plus importantes transactions de ce type depuis la vente de l'Alaska au XIXe siècle, cette transaction fait partie d'une stratégie troublante: la firme Jarch Capital parie que le Soudan, et d'autres pays africains, sont sur le point de se morceler en plusieurs États.

Of all the places on this planet where you might think of investing, Sudan would surely not normally be at the top of anyone’s list. But that is not the view of Philippe Heilberg of Jarch Capital in New York, who told the BBC that his company was leasing 400,000 hectares in the relatively more stable south part of the country.

South Sudan's administration is looking into a 4,000 sq km land investment by a US businessman because of questions over who owns the plot, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest rice importers, has received the first batch of rice to be produced abroad by local investors, state news agency SPA reported on Monday.

King Abdullah received today Saudi Arabia's Minister of Commerce and Industry accompanied by two Saudi businessmen Mohammad Hussein Al-Amoudi and Abdullah Hassan Al-Masri on the occasion of the arrival of the earliest produce of their rice to the Kingdom.

The Sudanese delegation to the Arab League is urging the pan-Arab organization to set up a food security fund worth at least $50 billion to ensure stable future food supplies, a Sudanese official said.

Even the World Bank is continuing its role as a neo-colonial consensus agent by actively pursuing and financing access to 'under-utilised land' around the world through its International Finance Corporation.

Sudan will be proposing wheat cultivation as the first option for its role in Arab and global food security.

To lure investment dollars, the Sudan government has removed import duties on agricultural equipment being imported into the country.