News of the deal has aroused very vehement protest from the Sudanese Farmer’s Union and the tenants in the Gezira Scheme.

More South African farmers expect to receive land offers in Mozambique as they seek to expand across Africa amid uncertainty over land reform at home, an official from a mostly white farmers group said

Abu Dhabi's Jenaan Investment owns and leases properties in Egypt and Sudan, as well as leasing land in Tanzania, Ethiopia and the US.

Egyptian officials in September revived a 30-year-old agreement with Sudan that encourages private companies to plant wheat in northern Sudan.

Groups consider land deal "treason", saying its aim is to steal Egyptian water and create a state inside the state.

The Egyptian external agricultural land deals are all the more fragile as a future government or policy change in Ethiopia or Sudan risks destabilizing their external food security strategy.

Egypt will lease at least 200,000 acres of farmland this year for agri-business projects in North Sinai, the North Coast and Upper Egypt, the agriculture minister said on Wednesday.

Egyptian private equity firm Citadel Capital said it was investing $40 million to grow crops in Sudan, where agricultural spending is increasing as the government moves to address food shortages.

Egypt will soon offer to lease, for 49 years, 50,000 feddans [21,000 ha] for agri-business projects in North Sinai, the irrigation minister said -- but only to domestic investors.

Egypt's government signed a deal to allow Egyptian companies access to 400,000 hectares of farm land in Sudan, the first deal of its kind between the two countries

Abu Dhabi’s Al Dahra Agricultural Company is halfway through a plan involving more than 60,700 hectares of farmland in Europe, the US, south Asia and north Africa to boost the UAE’s food security.