Russia is in talks with Japanese companies to secure investment in Siberian farmland and Pacific ports that would allow the world's No. 3 wheat exporter to carve a greater share of Asian markets, a senior grain official said.
The congress will look at one of the key trends in world rice and other food production, including the "off-shoring" of farm production by several influential countries, including China, South Korea and Japan, he said.
After focusing for decades on oil, metals and minerals, Japan's huge trading houses are turning to agricultural commodities, with Tokyo enthusiastically supporting the shift amid concerns about local and global food security .
"We would also like to know why this government has been so aggressive in pushing these lease deals of our farmlands to the rich countries," Philippines Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada said.
I wonder how many other behind-the-scenes transactions are currently underway in the continent that will only be announced when the deals have been signed and perhaps money has exchanged hands.
Rather than participating in the race for farmland overseas, Japan should concentrate on raising its food self-sufficiency rate, which is now at about 40 percent.
Tokyo is now preparing to expand Official development assistance to support agricultural technology innovations and improve social infrastructure in such areas, which in turn could help activate private agricultural investment
Japan's proposal to set up a set of common guidelines to promote smooth global investment in agriculture was endorsed by other leaders of the G8
Prime Minister Taro Aso says he will call on world to develop principles promoting responsible foreign investment in agriculture in the face of "land grabs" of large-scale farmland in poor nations to ensure food supplies for wealthy nations.
Video from The Global Report reporting that the G8 will address land grabbing through win-win solutions
We need non-binding principles, not regulation, to make land grabbing win-win, says Japan's Prime Minister before the G8 Summit
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.
