UAE

Saudi officials I have spoken to seem to be aware of the minefields their schemes could ignite.

The issue of food security is getting higher on Riyadh’s priority list.

"Pakistan has finalised plans to offer ownership of agricultural lands to investors for farming, and is targeting investors from the UAE and other Gulf countries to help with their own food resources."

The Federal Minister of Investment in Pakistan, Waqar Ahmed Khan, said this week that the government plans to sell or lease 1 million acres of farmland to foreign investors, primarily from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Although the news has yet to gain much coverage, if carried out it could punctuate growing unrest and frustration, given Pakistan’s limited amount of arable land and population of more than 170 million.

The debate over foreign investment is set to expand from the mining industry to agriculture as overseas investors pour billions of dollars into Australian rural properties considered by some to be strategic national assets.

A cash-strapped Pakistani government plans to sell or rent one million acre land to foreign countries for agricultural purposes in a bid to underpin the country’s troubled economy. “A complete legal cover will be provided to the investors so that even in case of the change of government, they should not be affected.”

Pakistan is offering one million acres of farmland, protected by a special security force, for lease or sale to countries seeking to secure their food supplies, an official from the ministry of finance said on Monday.

UAE food processing and poultry group Iffco has justifiably ruffled some feathers in Australia. Earlier this year, Iffco acquired a 14.99 per cent stake in Australian Agricultural Company (AAC) from Futuris Corporation for AU$64.7 million (Dh171.6m). AAC is the largest beef cattle company in Australia, running around 500,000 beef cattle on 21 cattle stations comprising 8.2 million hectares.

Vision3, the promoter of AgriCap, the investment vehicle conceived to invest in visionary initiatives across the agriculture sector in the greater MENA region announced today that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the General Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises (TIGEM), a Turkish governmental agency falling under the authority of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Abu Dhabi's food imports increased considerably during the past two years as the cultivated area contracted and the level of self-sufficiency in several commodities and livestock went down, the emirate's Department of Planning and Economy has revealed. The department yesterday called for a strategic plan to achieve food security through an increase in agricultural investment outside the UAE, especially in Sudan.

Jordan will dispatch a delegation to Sudan next Thursday headed by its agriculture minister Saeed Al-Masri to discuss an agreement on developing food farms in the East African country, according to media reports.

African states have actively encouraged Gulf investors into areas like agriculture, seeing them as a useful counterweight to China’s influence.