Tanzania

Abdullah Alireza, the Saudi minister of Commerce and Industry, talked about farming abroad in a recent visit to Seattle, where he addressed a private gathering of local business people.

Most Chinese investment in African agriculture is concentrated in southern Africa: Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi and, increasingly, Angola.

Las adquisiciones de tierra en África, Asia y Latinoamérica, tal y como se hacen en la actualidad, suponen condenar a los más pobres a ser desalojados de sus fincas o a perder acceso a la tierra, al agua y a otros recursos, según el primer estudio sobre la nueva tendencia de grandes corporaciones y gobiernos de invertir en tierras en países pobres, encargado por las agencias de las Naciones Unidas de la Agricultura y Alimentación y del Desarrollo (FAO y UNDP).

Saudi agricultural company Tabuk Agricultural Development Co has started preparations to invest in food production abroad, driving up its stock.

The people who have agreed to give out their land for free to SEKAB have been mislead by unrealistic promises

The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation is planning to set up model farms in Uganda. So far, one site of 200 hectares suitable for wheat growing has already been identified at Labora, Koro sub-county in Gulu district.

The fact that President Jakaya Kikwete accepted an invitation to Saudi Arabia recently to discuss the possibility of farmland allocation is important, as it means that Tanzania is attentive to the proposal.

Rattled by last year's food price crisis, governments and corporations have signed a slew of deals to lease or buy arable land in cash-strapped nations, mainly in Africa and Southeast Asia.

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.

There is this saying common in most tribal vernaculars and other languages which simply states that where there is smoke there is likely to be fire.

A new scramble for arable land in Tanzania has started - the coastline and the fertile land in Northern and Southern Tanzania being the prime targets.