Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian investors want to lease 500,000 hectares of farmland in Tanzania to grow rice and wheat.

Saudi investors have asked Tanzania if they can lease 500,000 hectares of farmland mainly for rice and wheat farming as part of a plan to secure food supplies for the desert kingdom, officials said.

Al Rajhi for International Investment will spend an estimated $400 million by 2011 to produce wheat and maize in Egypt and Sudan. The Saudi private firm is already farming 42,000 hectares of farmland in Egypt this year.

Saudi Arabia is putting $800m into a new public company that will invest in overseas agricultural projects. The move signals a large step-up in Riyadh’s efforts to outsource supply for the kingdom’s food needs.

Not a day goes by without new acreage being signed over. "For Sale" ads for agricultural property are now featured in the international financial press. And there's no dearth of clients.

Two of the world's biggest land investors - Saudi Arabia and South Korea - have announced moves to improve their food security. A South Korean company is to buy 125,000 acres in Russia over the next four years and a Saudi group has set up a £600m fund to buy land.

"Je crois que les tensions seront inévitables où que ce soit, faisant des enclaves agricoles étrangères de véritables forteresses assiégées."

The Saudi Cabinet on Monday approved establishing a SR3 billion agricultural investments company that will partner the Saudi private sector in the quest to achieve food security in the Kingdom.

An agricultural investment firm owned by the Saudi government will focus on investing abroad to cultivate mainly wheat, rice, sugar and soybeans, a senior agriculture ministry official said on Monday.

Des États à la recherche d'autonomie alimentaire et des grands groupes louent des millions d'hectares à l'étranger. Christian Bouquet, spécialiste en géopolitique, explique le phénomène.

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.

A group of private Saudi investors plans to invest 375 million riyals to plant wheat, barley and rice in Ethiopia