Global rules for investment in agriculture need to be overhauled, Sultan Al Mansouri, the UAE Minister of Economy, said yesterday, as signs emerge of rising barriers to the flow of investment around the world.
Hesham Al Shirawi, Chairman of Economic Zones World, mooted the idea of establishing free zones for agri-business in Africa during the Africa Global Business Forum 2013. The establishment of corn farms is also a lucrative business proposition, he added.
The member countries also agreed to draft a unified strategy for cooperation with other Arab countries that have agricultural land, including Sudan, Morocco and Yemen, as well as with African countries.
Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. will work with the Department of Agriculture to identify lands in the Philippine for the production of cash crops, hoping to eventually control over 200,000ha.
Chinese executives of state farms in Ningxia Province visit Ghana to explore opportunites in rice farming and express interest in acquiring the struggling state-owned Aveyime Cattle Ranch.
Last week, hundreds of Sudanese protested in Eastern Khartoum demanding the government revoke the sale of farming lands to Gulf investors. There is no logical reason behind these demonstrations except ignorance of the reality of the GCC approach, says economist.
Univanich Palm Oil, one of the Thailand's leading palm-oil producers and its largest exporter of crude palm oil, is expanding into Asean with its first investment in the Philippines.
"We have also approved the allocation of 20, 000 hectares of land to a Chinese company for rice production," says state governor, Alhaji Garba Umar.
African lawmakers have resolved to strengthen existing laws at the national and regional level to prevent fraudulent land deals on the continent
Civil society groups warn secretive plan paves the way for a massive land grab in northern Mozambique.
Kinnevik, the investment group which is the biggest investor in Black Earth Farming, revealed that it is to sell its Polish farm to cash in on gains in land prices, and bankroll "other opportunities in emerging markets further east".
Since 2011, World Bank investments in large palm oil companies have virtually stopped, but it has backed off from applying the same approach to other crops, although the risks to local communities and indigenous peoples from land grabs from other agribusinesses are not much different.
