South Africa

AgriSA expects to sign a 35,000 hectare land deal with the Libyan government in October.

A multi-million hectare land deal allowing South Africans to farm in the Republic of Congo is expected to be finalised by mid October, South Africa's main farmers union said on Wednesday.

The Republic of Congo expects to finalize a multimillion hectare land deal with South African farmers by the end of this year, Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso said on Tuesday.

Provisional authorization for land exploitation (1 000 ha) in the Gaza province and Terms of authorization of project "Emvest Limpopo Project (Matuba Farm)"

South Africa is joining a “green rush” for the African continent. The Republic of the Congo has offered Agri SA 10-million hectares for South African farmers to produce maize and soya beans as well as to establish dairy and poultry farms.

Congo Republic wants to amend the terms of a multi-million hectare land deal with South African farmers, a top aide told Reuters on Wednesday, saying the current accord would deprive its own farmers of land.

For investors like Susan Payne, the chief executive of Emergent Asset Management, farmland in sub-Saharan Africa is a hot bet.

Because of the political sensitivity of the modern-day land grab, it is often only the country's head of state who knows the details. Der Spiegel investigates.

When people are using lands under customary tenure arrangements, there is an inequality in bargaining power where no formal titles to the land exist if a foreign investor is interested in purchasing the land.

South Africa's government will not stand in the way of its farmers investing in other African countries but cannot help protect their investments, its agriculture minister said on Tuesday.

Yes Bank expects a $150 million Tanzanian rice and wheat project to reach full production by 2011, the first of several large African farms it is funding. "We are looking at a more inclusive model wherein the local farmers can be organised into a producers company, and they would be the suppliers to the processing facility. It's predominantly not to acquire huge tracts of land."

"At this stage, we have not sold a single square metre to the South Africans," Rigobert Maboundou, Congo Republic's minister of agriculture said over the weekend.