Saudi Arabia

Heightened land values have caused several Egyptian banks, private companies and government bodies to purchase agricultural land in Africa, in addition to focusing greater attention on Egypt’s land resources.

The urgency among Gulf states to pursue farmland acquisitions has diminished as food prices have gone down and controversy has gone up. Still, Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with its plans.

US government mission in Riyadh writes, "Although the idea of Saudi farms in Africa may sound farfetched, the Kingdom has for years hired foreign managers and laborers to administer its farms and other agribusinesses (e.g., most Saudi wheat farms currently have Egyptian managers)."

Both private and public sector investors from countries such as Qatar, Libya, Jordan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the Arab world as well as China and Korea elsewhere now hold long term rights to a total of two million feddans of arable land in Sudan, according to figures from the country’s agriculture ministry.

The Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors said that Saudi businesspeople were keen to invest in Turkey, particularly in agriculture. “The Kingdom has a huge program involving billions of riyals for agricultural investment in countries with fertile soil and plentiful water.”

Accaparement des terres - cas du Soudan - par AGTER

A one-day workshop on the scramble for land, ‘investment’ and environmental degradation in Oromia: consequences for the future (City University London, 3 July 2010)

Si impadroniscono delle risorse naturali sempre più scarse attraverso la guerra delle armi o il danaro. La scomparsa delle popolazioni in via di sviluppo a loro non importa.

Saudi Arabia and neighbours take a new tack in the quest to secure supplies of food from Thailand, this time seeking rice processing factories.

L’Union Tunisienne de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche a proposé au secteur privé saoudien la réalisation de projets d’investissements conjoints dans le secteur agricole dans plus de 5 millions d’hectares de terres fertiles et pavées pour l’agriculture mis à la disposition.

Forecast reports on scarcity predict global actors will move in on dwindling resources. Governments are taking notice, and so should the public, Vivian Fritschi writes for ISN Security Watch.

“We are now looking very seriously into Sudan,” said Zouhair Eloudghiri, chief executive officer of Savola Foods Co., a unit of Saudi Arabia’s second-largest publicly traded food producer, Savola Al-Azizia United Co.