Prof Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, thinks Arab states should shore up their food security as global warming places stress on the world's agricultural resources. But he is not thinking of recent government initiatives to buy fertile farmland in other countries.
At a recent conference in Cairo, South Africa and Zimbabwe were the only African nations not considered safe havens for foreign farmland investment because of uncertainty about land-reform programmes and unfriendly labour environments.
GCC countries are doing the right thing by increasingly exploring investments in farmlands abroad, says Jasim Ali, Bahraini MP.
India should look at Latin American countries to keep its food security intact, argue public and private sector officials
"The government will trigger lifting of the moratorium on sale of farmland. We cannot form sustainable development of the land market without this step," says Ukraine's agrarian policy minister.
Tareq al- Zadjali, director general of the Arab Organization for Agriculture Development, wants to see more Arabs investing in agriculture within the Arab worlds’ borders rather than buying farms abroad in Asia and Africa.
And even though the World Bank has announced some tepid steps along with the United Nations to protect against land grabs, don't expect much out of the process.
Wall Street financiers now interested in channeling billions of new dollars into cropland include heavy hitters like UBS, Morgan Stanley and Rabobank.
Cargill and Bunge among firms setting up funds to buy farms in Asia and South America.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the Kingdom has called on Saudis to invest in his country’s agricultural sector.
Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi talks about the leasing of large areas of Ethiopian farmland to foreign investors during a panel on African agriculture at the World Economic Forum
When will governments recognise the immense potential of their own farmers and their sustainable, diverse family farming systems, that are so desperately in need of genuine 'responsible' agricultural investment to assure food and seed sovereignty, asks Joan Baxter