De Schutter said that instead of ceding millions of hectares to foreign investors, by sale or on long-term leases, the possibility of contract farming should be explored.
These arrangements are reminiscent of “banana republics” when many African countries served as plantations for European countries -- but even those did not come with such explicit restrictions and rigidities.
"At this stage, we have not sold a single square metre to the South Africans," Rigobert Maboundou, Congo Republic's minister of agriculture said over the weekend.
For a growing number of South African farmers, the Republic of Congo is the Promised Land. They’re scrambling to get on board an ambitious venture to reclaim farmland in Congo’s interior and help relieve that country of a reliance on food imports. Already some 70 farmers have booked a Congo tour and more than 3,000 have expressed interest, said Agri-SA, the South African farming group organizing the venture.
A number of African countries are inviting South African farmers to come over to their countries and ply their trade, and Libya is included.
Dix millions d’hectares de terres agricoles sont proposées par la République du Congo à des agriculteurs sud-africains pour y cultiver du maïs et du soja et y élever de la volaille et des vaches laitières, a annoncé hier Theo De Jager, vice-président d’Agriculture South Africa (AgriSA).
The government of Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) has offered 25 million acres (10 million hectares) of land to South African farmers in an effort to improve the central African nation's food security, reports Reuters. The area is nearly twice the amount of arable land in South Africa.
Los agricultores de Sudáfrica miran hacia el norte. En el mayor negocio agrícola del continente, anunciaron haber asegurado diez millones de hectáreas de tierras en la República del Congo, un tercio de la superficie del país.
The Republic of Congo offered 10 million hectares of farm land to South African farmers to grow maize, soya beans and also establish poultry and dairy farms. In the deal being touted as the biggest in recent African history, farmers would be able to lease the land for free for 99 years.
Afin d’éclairer l’opinion sur l’information diffusée par une agence de presse internationale, portant état de l’offre gracieuse par le Congo aux Sud-Africains de 10 millions d’hectares de terres agricoles, le ministère de l’Agriculture et de l’Élevage a fait une mise au point
À la suite de discussions au Congo avec une délégation des fermiers sud-africains, les parties congolaises et sud-africaines ont convenu d’une déclaration d’intention sur la mise à disposition de terres, la protection des agriculteurs et de leurs affaires, le bénéfice de l’exonération des droits et taxes de douane sur les intrants et les matériels agricoles.
South African farmers have been offered 10 million hectares of farm land on which to grow maize and soya beans and on which to set up poultry and dairy farms in the Republic of Congo, South Africa’s main farmers union said yesterday.
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