Bahrain

The militant peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) today called on the House of Representatives’ committees on agrarian reform and agriculture to conduct a probe and shoot down a $300-million land lease deal the government entered into with Bahrain.

Bahrain’s Nadir and Ibrahim Sons of Hassan Group has signed a $50 million agriculture investment deal with AMA Group Holdings to use public land to grow crops including sugar, rice and bananas.

The Finance Ministry and the National Bank of Bahrain have agreed to set up a $265.2m fund that will invest in companies and purchase land in overseas countries for captive production.

La escasez y el encarecimiento de los alimentos en el norte de África y en Oriente Próximo están agravando el hambre en el África subsahariana, donde han desembarcado los países árabes más ricos comprando tierras, a bajo precio, con el objetivo de cultivar lo necesario para dar de comer a sus propias poblaciones.

Gulf states have opted to buy up large tracts of farmland in developing countries in a bid to safeguard their food supplies – a strategy that risks exporting their water shortages to other nations, analysts said.

The UAE has purchased thousands of acres of arable land in Sudan to grow products for the home market, while Bahraini investors help meet demand in the kingdom from farmland bought in Thailand and the Philippines.

Investors from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain are currently planning to inrease investment in the agriculture sector of the Philippines as part of their government’s food security programmes.

MOU signed with Perigon Advisory to launch a RM3 billion agribusiness fund to promote food security in the OIC and generate returns for its investors.

”Argentina will welcome investment from Bahrain in its agricultural sector so it can guarantee its own food security,” Ignacio Rossi Sammartino, of the Commercial Section at the Argentine Embassy, told Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry board members.

Private investments are being pumped into several countries to produce fruit, vegetables, rice and corn and meet Bahrain's demand for these commodities

Hassan Group will cultivate 4,000 hectares of arable land in India to produce fruits (banana), rice and sugarcane for the Bahraini market.

An established business group in Bahrain is seeking large tracts of land to grow rice and rear cattles in Malaysia.