Saudi Arabia has announced the arrival of the first food crop harvested in Saudi-owned farms abroad, in a sign that the kingdom is moving faster than expected to outsource agricultural production.
Reports indicate the growing Euro-Arab-Asian interest to buy land in Africa for the food security of their home population, not Africa´s. However, seldom do these reports link the the appetite for farmland and energy investment on the continent with the current global economic crises.
The lack of systematic collection of data and categorising private and official investments from the Gulf has made it difficult to reach an accurate estimate of total investments, made so far.
A group of five Saudi Arabia business men have planned to invest 1 billion Saudi riyals (some $ 266.6 million) in agricultural projects in Sudan and Ethiopia within the coming few years, Pan Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat reports.
A group of Saudi businessmen have planned to invest over SR1 billion [USD267m] in agricultural projects in Ethiopia and Sudan on a staggered schedule within next few years.
With vast tracts of land being sold in Madagascar, and Sudan and other African governments actively seeking investors in agricultural land, are we witnessing a neo-colonial land grab or will the investment result in greater food productivity to the long-term benefit of recipient nations?
Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest rice importers, has received the first batch of rice to be produced abroad by local investors, state news agency SPA reported on Monday.
King Abdullah received today Saudi Arabia's Minister of Commerce and Industry accompanied by two Saudi businessmen Mohammad Hussein Al-Amoudi and Abdullah Hassan Al-Masri on the occasion of the arrival of the earliest produce of their rice to the Kingdom.
In the largest single agricultural investment, Ethiopia’s richest man Sheik Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi, joined the bio-fuel sector in a joint venture with Jemal Ahmed, one of the biggest edible and palm oil importers in the country.
To lure investment dollars, the Sudan government has removed import duties on agricultural equipment being imported into the country.
Sur les concessions proprement dites, le Soudan a mis à la disposition de notre pays 4200 hectares ce projet sera financé par la Banque Islamique (BI), quant à l’Ethiopie, elle devra délivrer 5000 hectares mais par étapes et cette partie du projet sera financé par la Banque Africaine de Développement (BAD).
Dependence on oil imports may be influencing the Ethiopian government’s decision to lease farmland to Saudi Arabia