Thailand

Will Malaysia be emulating other nations by looking abroad to plant staple crops like rice, or rear cows, goats, chicken and fish to secure a sustainable food supply?

Undeterred by recent debates, a Bahrain scouting mission left for a week-long trip to the Philippines and Thailand yesterday, where it hopes to secure fruit and vegetable plantations.

Amid fears of land-grabbing foreigners, Thailand's Democrat government is all set to give local landlords a big bonanza.

"According to our laws and our policy, foreigners or foreign companies are not allowed to rent or buy land to grow rice or any kind of food, including raising livestock, in Thailand," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.

The issue of farmland investments is expected to be raised in the first ministerial meeting between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on June 29-30 in Manama.

Eam Ngamdamronk, vice chairman of CP Group, said it was a flexible agreement in which investment could be made in Bahrain, Thailand and also in third countries.

Thailand's Ministry of Commerce says the law is quite clear -- foreign developers cannot invest in the country's agricultural sector, especially the farm sector.

Thai rice farmers and exporters strongly oppose the Gulf Cooperation Council's interest in investing in the Thai farming sector

Al Salam and CP Group will jointly identify suitable agribusiness ventures that will generate attractive risk-adjusted returns while playing a proactive role in addressing food security in the region.

Bahrain-based Islamic bank Al Salam said on Sunday it has signed an agreement with Thailand's agriculture and food company Charoen Pokphand Foods to jointly invest in agricultural businesses.

The Government of Laos has granted a major Thai investor a 10,000 ha concession in two central provinces of Laos to grow sugarcane.

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.