Africa’s agriculture and food industries are attracting increasing interest from investors. This trend is largely fuelled by the fact that the continent has 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, with favourable weather conditions in many countries.
A policeman died and 42 people were injured in Myanmar on Wednesday during a protest by farmers over what they said was a land grab by a private company, a growing source of tension as people assert their rights after the end of military rule.
Brazil is helping develop Mozambican agriculture by promoting large-scale farming and supporting smallholders. Can it do both at once?
A Qatari Government-owned company is buying up prime agricultural land in South Australia at well above market rates and is forcing farmers to sign confidentiality agreements.
The proposal to limit foreign farmland ownership in South Africa to a leasehold of a minimum of 30 years is not a sign of antagonism to foreign investment, says Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti.
The takeover of peoples' land and water by corporations – even if they are from the global south – is a new form of colonisation, writes Anuradha Mittal.
Land grabbing, which is the acquisition of land without regard for the interests of existing land rights holders, and disagreements regarding boundaries between counties and payams (districts) will also be addressed by the policy.
Wilmar International has taken a majority stake in a palm plantation venture in Indonesia’s Papua owned by Noble Group, giving the world’s biggest palm oil supplier a toehold in the province where it also hopes to grow sugar cane.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has initiated a position in Archer Daniels Midland when it is anticipated that companies like ADM and Bunge will seek out targeted acquisitions of global farmland in order to both expand and diversify operations
"We will continue to speak out against what can only be considered land grabbing, because the proposed location of Herakles Farms plantation is in the midst of a rainforest that sustains my local community and our unique wildlife."
US-based Aslan Global Management, a leader in the "patient capital" movement, manages more than 12,000 hectares of farmland in Ukraine and Mozambique on long-term lease and just entered into a 99-year lease for 45,000 hectares in Tanzania.
“In the very short term land will became scarcest for Mozambicans because the government is attracting foreign investors arguing that we have huge unused land“, a spokesperson for UNAC told IPS. “What happens, in fact, when investors come, their appetite is centered on land already being used by locals.”
