Chinese investors interested in cultivating Bahamian land could be interested in exporting what they produce as well as supplying the local market, the executive chairman of the Bahamas Agriculture and Industrial Corporation said yesterday.

Contract covers the lease of 3,012 ha in the Gambela Regional State for a period of 50 years, with option for renewal.

The global rush to acquire agricultural land in bountiful Africa evokes concern and protests.

European pension funds are investing in global farmland, with a focus on emerging markets. If political problems arise, “You'll have the World Bank on your side,” SilverStreet's chief investment officer said.

The recent large-scale acquisition of land in Kenya and in Africa in general happens on murky terrain as governments negotiate behind closed doors.

FIDP has launched a Cambodia and Laos fund, “an extended China play” that will focus largely on agriculture, seeking to benefit from China’s desire for food security.

Such huge transfers of agricultural power must surely come with consequences that are worthy of closer regulatory inspection.

I personally know of the efforts of a leading Japanese company that is cooperating with African farmers to create sustainable systems that blend technology with traditional African lore

Korean investors are nervous about trusting African governments’ guarantees, and about complex and frequently arbitrary regulations.

The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity has joined forces with a coalition of organizations to protest against the recent increase in land grabbing - transferring rights over agricultural land in developing countries to foreign investors - and to denounce its support by the World Bank (WB).

The head of a 19-state African trading bloc has denied the Gulf’s policy of snapping up cheap farmland across the continent is tantamount to a ‘neo-colonialist’ land grab.

Morocco is inviting bids from foreign and domestic investors to lease 21,000 hectares of farmland as part of its farm reform plans.