Zambia

The Zimbabwean company, Greenfuels, has acquired 30,000 hectares of land for a sugar cane plantation in Kawambwa’s Luena farm block.

Can land grabs by foreign investors in developing countries feed the hungry? So says the press release for a recent, and unfortunate, economic study.

The Central Province government opposes the allocation of 10,000 ha of land in Serenje’s Mphande area by Chief Chibale to Blackstar Investment which might result in over 1,300 people being displaced.

For private equity houses, pension funds and family offices, the sprawling farms of sub Saharan Africa are the new land of plenty.

The companies from Zimbabwe, Brazil, China and South Africa are expected to invest about US$1.250 billion on the 30,000 hectares reserved for the projects .

Pour plus de viande et plus de produits laitiers en Afrique, les "experts" prôntent un modèle à deux vitesses : encourager l'élevage intensif des investisseurs et soutenir l'élevage extensif des plus pauvres.

Amatheon has already invested €30m in farming projects in Zambia and Uganda, and plans to spend an additional €350m in the coming two years in other African countries, such as Ghana and Mozambique.

African countries that missed out on Gulf cash pouring into agricultural projects elsewhere on the continent are trying to entice Arab investors with deals they say are designed to avoid problems of the past.

Zambia has granted 250 hectares of land to Bangladeshi investors who will invest more than US$1 million in the development of agriculture in Mwansabombwe District in Luapula Province.

Amatheon, a company part owned by the German holding company Sapinda, grows wheat and soya beans on 30,000 ha that it has leased in Zambia.

«Nous avons jusqu’ici investi entre 15 millions et 17 millions de dollars dans l'acquisition des terres, des infrastructures destinées à l'irrigation et du matériel agricole», a déclaré Varun Mahajan, directeur général d’Olam pour la Zambie.

Three FAO reports published in 2013 looking at Lao PDR, Zambia and Ghana