The Republic of Congo expects to finalize a multimillion hectare land deal with South African farmers by the end of this year, Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso said on Tuesday.
Congo Republic wants to amend the terms of a multi-million hectare land deal with South African farmers, a top aide told Reuters on Wednesday, saying the current accord would deprive its own farmers of land.
When people are using lands under customary tenure arrangements, there is an inequality in bargaining power where no formal titles to the land exist if a foreign investor is interested in purchasing the land.
South Africa's government will not stand in the way of its farmers investing in other African countries but cannot help protect their investments, its agriculture minister said on Tuesday.
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.
|
Down on the farm, Saudi Arabia has a $9.8bn hole to fill
|
|
Iran to expand overseas farming to 2mln hectares by 2029
|
|
Avon Pension Fund to invest a further £150m in natural capital
|
|
Carbon Assets unveils $144m Jigawa wetland project
|
