Nigeria

Nigeria is offering to lease farmland to Gulf countries seeking food security and will allow investors to export all of their produce, the head of a private Nigerian agriculture consultancy firm said on Monday.

Charoen Pokphand officials interacted with various agencies of government involved in seed production and sales in a bid to have access to relevant information and to consider the procedure for acquisition of land.

The cooperation will be in the establishment of rice farms by the Thais in Nigeria’s Free Trade Zones.

Nigeria's House of Representatives passed a motion yesterday urging all tiers of government to be proactive against a new form of imperialism and land acquisition

Farmers from South Korea, Kuwait and the United States have also arrived in Kwara state, some 400 km northwest of Lagos, which is keen to attract more investors and help Nigeria end its import reliance.

In a bid to boost rice production, the government of Anambra is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Vietnam Africa Agricultural Development Company (VAADC) to begin mechanised production of rice.

Nigeria allows foreigners -- like Thailand's Riceland International Co -- to lease land for growing rice and to run rice-related businesses including milling and processing.

De Schutter y la FAO son, a mi juicio, muy confiados, porque entienden que una regulación ética “podría ser positiva, después de muchos años en los que ha habido falta de interés en el mundo por invertir en la agricultura”.

It is not clear whether a strategy is in place to ensure that part of the food produced by the rich food importers farms will be sold locally.

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 region continues to have great market potential as a number of Thai rice companies have offices there and some have been approached by local governments to invest there in milling, processing and even growing rice.

The UN’s food security expert, Olivier de Schutter, has called for a “code of conduct” to regulate the purchase of swathes of farmland across Africa, Asia and Latin America by Gulf states and private companies pursuing agribusiness.