World Bank organizes costly conferences on land governance while overlooking the forced relocation of farmers and indigenous people resulting from its policies and programs.
The Thai government's much vaunted Special Economic Zones are under scrutiny amid reports of land grabs by foreign firms dodging the law on foreign acquisitions by having Thais act as nominees.
While most of the big corporate money has been falling over itself to buy into Australia's largest landowner, S. Kidman & Co, Rifa has quietly bought a total of seven properties in the last few months.
Financial investors own tracts that grow maize and soya beans in Illinois and Uruguay, almonds and cattle in Australia, and sugar beets and wheat in Poland. Some are venturing into countries with potentially volatile politics, such as Ethiopia and Ukraine.
The Qatar backed agricultural land and food producing company Hassad has defended its financial record in Australia following a report which showed its property company had never made a profit.
The four farms in the ‘macadamia capital of Australia’ cover 545 ha across four adjoining farms with 109,000 mature trees and were put up for sale in 2013 by one of the largest institutional managers of agricultural real estate in the US, Hancock Farm Company.
“I find it peculiar that a nation that is the venue for so much flow of funds from overseas to invest in our agricultural assets is not the same venue for Australian super funds to invest in,” ag minister Barnaby Joyce says.
Loro Horta reports on recent Chinese overseas investment in agriculture in the Lusophone world
"We believe this was a tactic to get us into prison so that we cannot raise our voice on the unacceptable land deals in Malen Chiefdom."
Joseph Rahall interviews Hon. Shiaka Sama, who was released from prison on 24 February 2016 while 5 other activists are still behind bars
The World Bank's $70 million in new financing will be used to link smallholder farmers to agribusinesses in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT).
Hassad Australia, the $469 million agricultural land company owned by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, has delivered a $3.46 million loss and is yet to make a profit since beginning in Australia in 2010.
