An Indonesian government plan to clear forests spanning an area twice the size of South Korea for food and biofuel crops has sparked fears of massive greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss.
"Brazil cannot achieve its emission reduction targets by simply reducing deforestation. We need to restore (deforested) areas by creating concessions" of land for the carbon market, says Para governor Helder Barbalho.
BPL Pensioen, a Dutch pension fund for agricultural and horticultural workers, has made a fresh investment of €90m in ASR Real Estate’s Dutch Farmland Fund, which owns 39,000 hectares in the Netherlands worth some €2.1bn.
"Whether it is a farmer or an investor, they are now viewing land as an asset class to get rich off of speculation, not the productive capability of that land."
The negotiations come amid a backdrop of growing scrutiny regarding land leasing practices in Africa. Critics argue that large-scale land acquisitions by foreign firms can lead to land dispossession and adverse environmental impacts. It remains to be seen how Al Dahra addresses these issues.
Agricultural workers and a legal advocacy group have raised concerns over a “fast-tracked” bill seeking to extend land lease terms for foreign investors to nearly a century, warning of its potential negative impact on farmers, plantation workers and indigenous cultural communities.
The Framework for Responsible and Inclusive Land Intensive Agriculture is a World Bank Project executed across Nigeria to ensure land acquisition and resettlement for large-scale agribusiness investments are undertaken in line with established international standards.
SRC and LAC operations on customary land have historically been conducted without the consent of local communities, leading to land grabs, destruction of livelihoods, and various human rights violations.
HAGL, a major Vietnamese agriculture firm, has doubled its durian farming area to 2,000 hectares and expanded its banana farming area by 40% to 7,000 hectares in the past two years.
Al Dahra will probably invest about $800 million to farm 200,000 acres [81,000 ha] of land at an irrigation development located in the coastal region, according to Kenya’s principal secretary for irrigation, Ephantus Kimotho.
The federal government through the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority (LNRBDA) Ilorin, formally allocated 4,000 hectares of farmland to Origin Tech Group to carry out mechanised agriculture in Ejiba, Kogi state, in line with national food security agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
Indian edible oil manufacturer BN Group announced a $1 billion investment to expand its operations across Africa establish three manufacturing facilities with a combined production capacity of 2,000 tonnes and invest in palm plantations.
