Pakistan

Islamabad instead of allowing foreigners control of local agri-land should use twenty million acres of government land to settle 2 million families by allotting ten acres land to each family

The government was asked on Saturday to immediately stop all land deals being negotiated with foreign governments, investors, US seed company Monsanto and other agro-chemical companies promoting genetically-modified crops, especially BT cotton.

Because of the political sensitivity of the modern-day land grab, it is often only the country's head of state who knows the details. Der Spiegel investigates.

Regierungen und Investmentfonds erwerben in Afrika und Asien Ackerland, um Nahrungsmittel anzubauen – ein lohnendes Geschäft, weil die Preise rasch steigen. Das Milliarden-Monopoly führt zu einem modernen Kolonialismus, dem sich viele arme Länder notgedrungen unterwerfen.

Agricultural experts, civil society activists, peasants and politicians condemn the PPP-led coalition government which has given nod to lease out 6m acres of Pakistani land to Gulf-based multinationals.

"We have no choice but to continue leasing and buying land," said Abdullah Al Obaid, head of the strategy unit at the Ministry of Agriculture in Saudi Arabia.

A number of Gulf states have expressed interest in livestock and rice farming in Thailand to secure food supplies, a Thai official said on Monday. "The countries involved could be Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar or the UAE," he added.

Pakistan dramatically increased the amount of farmland open to foreign investors to six million acres, but will require outsiders to share half of their crop with local growers, Pakistan’s investment minister told Reuters.

Pakistan hopes to attract more than $10 billion of investment from oil-rich Arab Gulf countries this year to help develop the country's infrastructure, a senior government official said Saturday.

Investors from the UAE are considering a number of investments in Pakistan, despite escalating violence in the north-west of the country.

Pakistan's Ministry of Investment has decided to offer one million acres of farmland for long-term investment or sale to foreigners, including the Emirates Investment Group.

“We have finalised plans for the corporate farming project and we have the capabilities to meet the food requirements of the GCC countries," said Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan, Investment Minister of Pakistan. “They will be able to export 50 per cent of the crop while the 50 per cent would be sold in Pakistan,” adding that 6.65 million acres of land for agriculture is available in Pakistan.