US firm to invest in $100 mln Tanzania farms JV

• IB Times
• 09 August 2011

AgriSol Energy LLC, and its joint venture partner in Tanzania will invest more than $100 million over the next 10 years to develop a large-scale commercial farming project.

Land policy: A key factor in combating hunger - The role of African regional organisations

• SEF
• 09 August 2011

The report of the Potsdam Spring Dialogues 2011 on "Land Policy: A Key Factor in Combating Hunger - The Role of African Regional Organisations" held on 15-16 April 2011 in Germany has just been released.

AIM investment in Farm Lands of Guinea

• StockmarketWire.com
• 09 August 2011

AIM Investments is investing $1m into Farm Lands of Guinea which, in turn, will invest $500,000 into AIM. FLG has prepaid 99 year leases on over 100,000 hectares of arable land in Guinea.

How would an investor export maize or rice from a famine-hit country?

• African Agriculture
• 08 August 2011

The drought and famine in East Africa is throwing up some uncomfortable questions for the model of large scale agro-investment in a poor country for export.

A land-grabber’s loophole

• COHA
• 08 August 2011

Restrictive legislation on the selling of land will continue to be null and void so long as foreigners can rent farm land -- the ‘leasing loophole’.

Call for abstracts for a special issue on ‘Ethical Aspects of Large-scale Land Acquisition in Developing Countries’

• landgrab.de
• 08 August 2011

The project ‘Large-scale land acquisition and sustainable development’ calls for abstracts for a special issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics.

A new wave of land grabbing exposed in Sri Lanka

• War On Want
• 08 August 2011

A recently uncovered cabinet memorandum has provided details of the new “Sri Lankan Land Alienation Policy to Promote Development Activities”.

Arable land deals with the West bad for food security

• East African
• 07 August 2011

The thriving market for land for commercial agriculture in East and West Africa is now seen as a threat to food security as rural populations are pushed off prime land.

State enterprise sues Saudi Star

• Addis Fortune
• 07 August 2011

Saudi Star Agricultural Development is being sued by an Ethiopian state company for failure to pay for the clearing of land in the Gambella Regional State.

Emerging issues in agricultural investments

• The Citizen
• 05 August 2011

Within agriculture, conflicts revolve around land and water sources ownership and use. The case of Karatu Kiru valley sugarcane farming where one of the investors was killed by local community on May 31, 2011 serves as an illustration

Meles Zenawi's land lease and famine in Ethiopia

• Abugida
• 05 August 2011

Failing rains and drought are not the primary causes of the chronic food shortage and persistent famine hitting Ethiopia given the immense potential the country has.

Indonesia food security project threatens Papuan way of life

• AlertNet
• 05 August 2011

Indigenous Papuans are at risk of further marginalisation and the forests on which they rely face destruction due to a project by the Indonesian government, activists say.