Dozens of Kazakh activists staged a protest today in front of the Chinese Embassy in Almaty against the planned leasing of Kazakh land to China, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

No less than 4,000 hectares in the Davao region have been identified by Middle Eastern-based companies to grow their products.

The United Nations agency that promotes commerce to fight poverty kicked off a meeting today aimed at finding ways in which trade, investment and technology transfers between developing countries – so-called “South-South” cooperation – can improve farming to boost food security in poorer nations.

The launch in Mozambique of the Chinese Centre for Agricultural Technology will serve to meet demand for food from the Chinese population, said Emeka Chiakwelu, director of Afripol-African Centre for Economic and Political Strategy.The launch in Mozambique of the Chinese Centre for Agricultural Technology will serve to meet demand for food from the Chinese population, said Emeka Chiakwelu, director of Afripol-African Centre for Economic and Political Strategy.

UNCTAD is hosting a meeting on South-South cooperation in agricultural investment, where land grabbing is on the agenda

In the Democratic Republic of Congo —a desperately poor country whose abundance of natural resources has made it the site of a catastrophic regional proxy war in which 5 million lives have been lost— China has secured a lease for 50% more land than the entire nation devotes to growing corn, its staple food, for 66 million of its own people.

The cooperation will be in the establishment of rice farms by the Thais in Nigeria’s Free Trade Zones.

"Some progress has been achieved with some African countries" to create farmland investment opportunities, Saudi Industry & Trade Minister Abdullah bin Ahmad Zainal said. He added more talks would be held with countries in southern and eastern Africa, without being more specific.

Saudi Binladin has been trying for almost two years to persuade Indonesian smallholders to sell their land. Policy may need to be rethought.

Summary and proceedings of a discussion hosted by FAO from 29.09.09 to 20.10.09.

Qatar has embarked on a food-security programme to make it more self-sufficient and help the communities around its farmland projects in developing countries.

Baghdad has suggested that Gulf Cooperation Council countries invest in Iraq farms to help revive its agriculture and ensure the Gulf's food security locally.