Saudi Arabia

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.

No less than 4,000 hectares in the Davao region have been identified by Middle Eastern-based companies to grow their products.

"Some progress has been achieved with some African countries" to create farmland investment opportunities, Saudi Industry & Trade Minister Abdullah bin Ahmad Zainal said. He added more talks would be held with countries in southern and eastern Africa, without being more specific.

Saudi Binladin has been trying for almost two years to persuade Indonesian smallholders to sell their land. Policy may need to be rethought.

"This apparent rush to lease so much farmland, much or all of it to foreign interests, during a time of worsening food insecurity should raise concern within the donor community about GoE motivations and negotiating capacity," writes the US embassy in Addis Ababa in December 2009

Foreign investment in African agriculture means the creation of jobs, the introduction of modern knowledge and technology, and desperately needed additions to countries' tax bases, writes DW's Ludger Schadomsky.

Sierra Leone signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Saudi Arabia for Saudi investment in the production of rice for home consumption and export.

Al-Amoudi's recently established Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc requested, two weeks ago, an additional 250,000 ha of land in Ethiopia for sugar beet production.

L’idée n’est pas nouvelle, mais elle fait son chemin depuis la tenue, les 14 et 15 novembre à Addis-Abeba, du premier forum économique entre l’Arabie saoudite et les pays d’Afrique de l’Est. Une manifestation qui a permis à Riyad de plaider sa cause et de renouveler son intérêt pour les terres agricoles de cette partie du continent.

Los grandes "acaparamientos de tierras" en África y Asia también son signos de desconfianza en los mercados mundiales. Algunos importadores con recursos –como Arabia Saudita, Kuwait, China y Corea del Sur– han optado por cultivar alimentos en tierras que poseen o controlan en el extranjero en vez de importarlos mediante el comercio internacional. Estos países han cerrado contratos para comprar o arrendar unos 20 millones de hectáreas de la mejor tierra agrícola en países pobres.

"I think it is not right to sell or give your land to foreigners... until you have exhausted every local possibility," said Osama Daoud, chief executive of the Sudanese DAL group which runs large agricultural projects.