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.
Sudan seeks to focus on Arab food security during the Arab Economic Summit, which will kick off on Monday, said Finance and National Economy Minister Awadh Al-Jazz. "We have extensive land plots, and great water and animal resources."
Land ownership could prove contentious. In the distant past, it was often held by communities as a whole or vested in traditional authorities. State officials now often have the greatest say. That opens the potential for official abuse of yet another valuable resource.
Sur les concessions proprement dites, le Soudan a mis à la disposition de notre pays 4200 hectares ce projet sera financé par la Banque Islamique (BI), quant à l’Ethiopie, elle devra délivrer 5000 hectares mais par étapes et cette partie du projet sera financé par la Banque Africaine de Développement (BAD).
A US businessman backed by former CIA and state department officials says he has secured a vast tract of fertile land in south Sudan from the family of a notorious warlord.
