Large-scale agricultural production will benefit private-sector firms rather than poor people, Grain says, noting that financial companies and sovereign wealth funds are responsible for about a third of the deals.
Mozambique, a country wracked by hunger, has signed away land concessions three times larger than Greater London to outside investors in the past decade, displacing thousands of farmers in the process.
The New Zealand farm group arm of the Shanghai Pengxin Group owned by Chinese billionaire Jiang Zhoabai says it plans to double its $500 million of local assets within the next five years.
UN Agency IFAD is robbing poor farmers and farming communities of their land and livelihoods, leaving them destitute, and handing over their wealth for plunder by foreign corporations and profiteering financiers.
Local NGO Licadho says registered more than 10,625 families newly affected by land conflicts.
Customary landowners in Papua New Guinea have been meeting to discuss their next steps following last month's National Court decision to halt the cancellation of flawed land leases.
New survey of land deals shows that since 2006 dozens of deals have been reached with foreign investors for the production of food crops, covering over 1.5 million ha.
Farmland ownership rules in Saskatchewan - which are among the most restrictive on the continent - could be getting tighter to prevent further purchases of farmland by institutional investors.
The story of the defaulted company Mriya Agro Holding shows what risks investors and creditors are willing to take in the pursuit of profit in Ukraine’s agribusiness.
The “blood sugar” plantations in Cambodia have been accused of violently evicting villagers in order to raze farmland and build their plantations. Representatives from Coca-Cola and Pepsi said they are not aware of sugar in their supply chain supplied by rights violators.
Investors and hedge funders paying next to nothing for vast tracts of land in some African countries is a worrying trend and puts into context the Zimbabwe land policy and reform.
Eight Eastern Africa governments under their umbrella organization IGAD have been urged to ensure tenure security for customary land rights because it is an essential element for sustainable development.