"In any resource sector, if you want to get involved, you always want to be in the upstream. It doesn't matter whether it's mining, whether its oil and gas or agriculture," says ABN AMRO's Tariono.
Abdulaye Wade says there is nothing wrong with leasing land: Saudi Arabia is already in Senegal and China is close to a deal with farmers' groups to use 100,000 ha for growing peanuts.
A focus on agricultural productivity should not become a cover for foreign private companies to grab land or impose expensive, input-intensive methods in the name of modernisation.
Activists say as many as 150,000 people in the Tana River delta could be displaced by the Qatari land-lease deal -- and it is not the only one in Kenya.
Selon le ministre de l'Agriculture, Brian Chituwo, des entreprises américaines et émiraties sont intéressées par la création de grandes exploitations agricoles en Zambie, pour cultiver du sucre et des céréales.
KKR said that the company planned to build or acquire up to a further 30 large-scale farms over the next few years.
Companies from the US and the UAE are interested in establishing large farms in Zambia to grow sugar and grains, the country's agriculture minister said
An investor analysis of the case for buying up farmland
As world population expands, the demand for arable land should soar. At least that's what George Soros, Lord Rothschild, and other investors believe.
"Finance Minister Yousef Hussein Kamal said he had personally been traveling to Vietnam, Cambodia, Yemen, Sudan, Tajikistan, and elsewhere to look into investing in agricultural production for the Qatari market," reports the US Embassy in Doha about a visit from US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
Japan will spearhead a drive at the Group of Eight summit to prevent "farmland grabbing" in developing countries and encourage responsible investing in agriculture.
The Federal Minister of Investment in Pakistan, Waqar Ahmed Khan, said this week that the government plans to sell or lease 1 million acres of farmland to foreign investors, primarily from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Although the news has yet to gain much coverage, if carried out it could punctuate growing unrest and frustration, given Pakistan’s limited amount of arable land and population of more than 170 million.
