Japan

アフリカでも進行する国際的な農地取引 誰にとってのチャンスなのか(2009)　AFJの会報より

Arabia Saudita, Corea, China, Japón y otros concentran tierras “baratas” en países del sur

Japan is leading an international effort to define a new set of 'investor principles' to govern such deals. These efforts are gaining support but will need to involve investors, many of whom are far removed from the donors, global banks and multinational corporations that are used to working with such initiatives.

Several companies like Mitsubishi Corporation are interested in promoting Merauke as a new rice barn in Asia.

The Government of Japan, with the World Bank, FAO, IFAD and UNCTAD, try to initiate a coordinated global response to the growing land grabbing trend at the UN

Casi 20 millones de hectáreas en África, Asia o América Latina han pasado a manos de gobiernos o inversores privados extranjeros

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.