Hassad Food

"As more investors look into the opportunities that developed nations present there will be no need to go underground or be ashamed of these deals," said Hakan Agro's Tomar.

Ghana Investment Promotion Centre is seeking investments from Qatar to the tune of $700mn, including a major deal with Hassad Food

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund agricultural company launched Hassad Australia last year, aimed at ensuring that livestock and grain needs for Qatar, from Australian farmland, are met.

Qatar-based Hassad Food has initiated its investment in Australian ­agriculture with the purchase of the prized Kaladbro Estate in far western Victoria.

A delegation of top Kenana Sugar officials is in Doha to hold talks with Qatar’s Hassad group to create one of the world’s biggest food producing companies with a view to ensuring food security in the Arab world.

Hassad Food has launched a large project for producing livestock in Australia with a capacity of up to 70,000 Syrian head of sheep in its first year, and then up to 150,000 head of sheep in three years. The company will also purchase farmlands for the production of grains especially wheat.

"Hassad [Food] has innovated by considering investments in overseas agribusinesses rather than only purchasing land in countries with questionable property rights, and where the indigenous population may not benefit from such purchases," writes the US embassy in Doha

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.”

Belarus has fertile land for agriculture and Hassad Food is evaluating different features in such markets like ease of laws

The French farming minister warned these "predatory investments" prevented countries from feeding themselves. Al Jazeera reports.

"Already we have received a lot of interest from the UAE to invest in Ukraine's agriculture sector, and we are offering all kinds of projects such as leasing of 100,000 hectares of land to the creation of animal farms with 3000 cows," Ukraine's agriculture minister said.