farmlandgrab.org

Food importers may increase overseas farm purchases
- Bloomberg
- 23 April 2009
Food-importing nations from South Korea to Saudi Arabia may step up purchases or leases of overseas farmland to lock in supplies amid concern prices may again surge. “We’re going to see more of this, especially from countries that are quite dependent on imports,” Brady Sidwell, head of advisory at Rabobank Groep NV’s Northeast Asia Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory Group, said in a Bloomberg Television interview broadcast today.
Saudi Arabia - Plan to ensure food security on right path
- MENAFN
- 23 April 2009
The issue of land ownership in Africa is very sacred and foreign investors need to be aware of the local sensitivities.
Solving threat of hunger for rich may starve the poor
- Saudi Gazette
- 23 April 2009
The problem of food security poses a real threat to global stability. Meeting in Italy last weekend, agriculture ministers of the G8 industrialized countries recognized the extent of the problem. They pledged to continue fighting hunger. But beyond calling for increased public and private investment in agriculture, the final communiqué of the ministerial meeting was short on fresh proposals.
China rules out pursuit of African farmland
- Financial Times
- 20 April 2009
China has said it will not join the growing trend of outsourcing food production by investing in overseas farmland, particularly in Africa, expressing doubts that such deals could improve its food security.
Après une offensive discrète au Kazakhstan, la Chine lorgne les terres russes inexploitées
- Le Monde
- 19 April 2009
Officiellement, les terres arables louées à la Chine n’existent pas. C’est que les autorités kazakhes craignent la réaction de la population rurale devant la “concurrence déloyale” représentée par l’arrivée en masse de paysans chinois, dont l’équipement agricole est supérieur au vieux matériel soviétique encore utilisé sur la plupart des exploitations kazakhes.
The growing lust for agricultural lands
- Le Monde
- 14 April 2009
Not a day goes by without new acreage being signed over. "For Sale" ads for agricultural property are now featured in the international financial press. And there's no dearth of clients.
Les terres agricoles, de plus en plus convoitées
- Le Monde
- 14 April 2009
"Je crois que les tensions seront inévitables où que ce soit, faisant des enclaves agricoles étrangères de véritables forteresses assiégées."
Sowing the seeds of regret?
- Globe and Mail
- 08 April 2009
Increasingly, the land deals are coming under the scrutiny of the UN and watchdog groups such as Grain, the International Land Coalition and the IFPRI. That's because it is not obvious that they are win-win situations.
Zambia's opposition condemns reported Chinese biofuels project
- DPA
- 02 April 2009
The deal would be the biggest lease of land in the country, which faces food shortages following severe flooding and drought during last year’s growing season.
All hands to the pumps
- Planning Resource
- 19 Mar 2009
Are there any answers to this looming crisis? Some countries are buying land. There is vague talk about governments introducing “water management reforms”. Even more opaquely, there are calls for “multi-country discussions on trans-boundary issues, international trade and investment flows”.
No matter how bad things get, people still need to eat
- The Economist
- 18 Mar 2009
A conference for fund managers tied to agriculture held annually in Sydney by Austock, an Australian broker, attracted a few dozen contrarian souls three years ago. This year’s event, which began on March 16th, had to be restricted to several hundred ticket-holders, with many others turned away.
Arrival of colonialism of the third kind
- The Daily Sun Star (Dhaka)
- 17 Mar 2009
The truth is that if exploitation of a developing country’s natural resources by the West is colonialism, so it is when rich countries of the South do the same.