Pakistan's Ministry of Investment has decided to offer more than 7 million acres of farmland for long-term investment to the Emirates Investment Group and others. China and Saudi Arabia are also interested.
In April, concerns over farmers’ rights led the government of Pakistan’s Balochistan province to block direct deals between United Arab Emirates-based private investors and farmers.
Instead of offering incentives on a similar scale to local farmers, Islamabad is offering legal and tax concessions, with legislative cover, to foreign investors in the form of specialised agricultural and livestock 'free zones' and may also introduce legislation to exempt such investors from government-imposed tax bans. The most worrisome aspect of such wheeling-dealing is the government's decision to develop a new security force of 100,000 men spread across the four provinces to ensure stability of the Arab investments.
A private agricultural investment firm in Abu Dhabi plans a Dh925 million (US$251.8m) farmland deal in Egypt to grow wheat for the African nation’s domestic market.
Gulf states buying farmland in developing nations for food security face the risk of damaging their reputation as international investors as the deals are seen as land grabs, a Rothschild executive said yesterday.
Janan, a UAE agricultural investment firm, will expand its farmland portfolio in a deal with Egyptian agricultural authorities next week.
A United Arab Emirates company will sign a deal with Egypt to cultivate 100,000 feddans, about 42,000 hectares, of land with wheat, corn and feed, the official news agency Mena reported on Tuesday.
“It is the height of stupidity for our country to bargain our lands for the sake of other nation’s food security, while being dependent on importation for our very own food security needs,” says Rafael Mariano
"We have no choice but to continue leasing and buying land," said Abdullah Al Obaid, head of the strategy unit at the Ministry of Agriculture in Saudi Arabia.
"Es una forma de hegemonía (...) Qatar nunca cedería a Kenia participaciones en sus campos petrolíferos", critica el abogado keniano Evans Monari.
The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir told the African Union summit in Libya that Sudan is willing to put its resources at the disposal of the continent.
Parmi les propositions alléchantes figurent aussi en bonne place les financements des investissements privés, avec, pour composante, le bail emphytéotique d’une partie des 3 500 000 ha de terres cultivables que possède le pays.