Luke Marriott’s Gold Tree is presently fighting tooth and nail to take over the Matru Jong 7,008 acre oil palm plantation but industry experts say that Gold Tree does not have the capacity (money).
The film shows a contract worth just US$25,000 (Dh92,000) for 600,000 hectares of land, with full exploitation rights, made out to Howard Douglas, a former United States ambassador and coordinator for refugee affairs.
The Fleurette Group, controlled by Israeli businessman Dan Gertler, announces a further financial commitment of $1.5 million for 2014 its 1,482-acre Kitoko Food Farm in the DR Congo.
Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) has denied being in discussions with Tadmax Resources Bhd over the sale of the latter’s land in Indonesia.
The director of a CPP senator’s sugar plantation accused of stealing land from hundreds of Cambodian families said Wednesday that most locals were happy with the new jobs the plantation has generated.
African countries that missed out on Gulf cash pouring into agricultural projects elsewhere on the continent are trying to entice Arab investors with deals they say are designed to avoid problems of the past.
Progress toward securing the land rights of forest communities has slowed around the world, with some hard-won gains threatening to be rolled back in some countries even as others see advances, say forest experts.
"If the lease has been found to be fraudulently issued, then it needs to be cancelled, that's the whole issue, that's the bottom line," says Effrey Dademo of Act Now.
RRI says the overriding picture in 2013 remained one of continuing resource grabs by local elites and corporations, aided by governments eager to give away land to investors on almost any terms.
International expert on land-grabbing Fred Pearce says the Pacific has some of the world's worst examples of the practice.
The FAO draft principles have little local basis and less community future, and are very likely to be employed to obscure the power imbalances that exist.
Let us focus on the real issue that our legislators should be grasping: how do we keep farmers operating and attract farmers to own the land they work, and not become peasants on land rented from institutional investors, domestic or foreign.
