Bangkok was wary of GCC efforts to ensure its food supplies by purchasing rice growing lands, and now political instability is chilling the investment climate. Tom Spender reports
“We expect this impending land-lease deal with Saudi Arabia, courtesy of global land-grabbing’s No. 1 puppet in Asia, to displace thousands of farmers and agricultural workers. Ms Arroyo is selling out the country’s national patrimony under the guise of multi-million dollar investment packages,” Anakpawis party-list Representative Rafael Mariano said.
China Investment Corporation's purchase of an $856m stake in Noble Group, the commodities trading company, is the clearest indication yet that Beijing wants to secure agricultural commodities supplies after last year's food crisis.
The Republic of Congo expects to finalize a multimillion hectare land deal with South African farmers by the end of this year, Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso said on Tuesday.
Ten Saudi Arabian agricultural companies wants to make the Philippines their food production hub and distribution center in the Far East.
Fears have been raised of a possible increase in food insecurity in Pakistan if a deal to lease out 202,342.8 hectares of farmland to Saudi Arabia goes ahead.
Zimbabwe Investments Authority acting chief executive Mrs Elina Karwi said the most basic requirement towards facilitating agriculture-related FDI was making land for agriculture available.
China's sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, has bought a 14.5 per cent stake in grain trading and production firm Noble Group for US$850 million.
"The real worry is that IRRI may help Saudi Arabia produce aromatic rice varieties in Pakistan where these countries have bought large tracts of lands," food policy commentator Devinder Sharma said. "India and Pakistan are already bitter rivals in the Basmati export segment."
If Islamabad chooses to sell valuable agricultural lands, may be India could help itself in partnership with the Gulf businessmen who want to produce fruit and vegetables in Pakistan. After all, the Gulf knows a lot less than India about agribusiness and we might well want to import food in the not too distant future.
In the Philippines, a land lease hotspot like Cambodia or Laos, a series of high-profile deals has clashed with long-running demands for agrarian reform including land redistribution.
Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd is exploring opportunities in other African countries besides Liberia for its palm oil business expansion.
