South Korea’s project to transform Madagascar into its breadbasket, branded by some as neo-colonial, came to an abrupt end on Wednesday when the Indian Ocean island’s new president said he would shelve the plan.

A deal for South Korea's Daewoo Logistics to lease over 1 million hectares of Madagascar to grow food crops is off, the island's new leader said on Wednesday.

Daewoo Logistics, the South Korean company, said on Wednesday that it was confident that Madagascar’s new government would support a plan to lease a huge tract of farmland on the island to grow food crops to send back to Seoul.

The Kenyan government is considering leasing a large tract of land in the Tana River Delta in eastern Kenya to Qatar's government. In return, Qatar would build a port in the seaside town of Lamu.

The truth is that if exploitation of a developing country’s natural resources by the West is colonialism, so it is when rich countries of the South do the same.

“The food crisis in the spring of 2008 was a warning sign,” according to al-Obeid. Saudi Arabia is a net importer of agricultural products, especially rice, corn and soya. This fact is pushing the state to invest overseas. We’ve sent government and private-sector delegations to Turkey, Ukraine, Egypt, Sudan, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Uzbekistan. These delegations have been very warmly received.”

Two listed Saudi companies plan to invest in either farming or agri-business abroad under a state-sponsored plan to ensure steady food supplies.

Foreign investors have been given licenses to run cow farms across Kurdistan Region.

Bahrain and the Philippines have signed an agreement to set up a $500 million joint agricultural company to help achieve food sufficiency in the kingdom and the GCC states.

Saudi Arabia will invest in agro-industy of Kazakhstan, reported Interfaz-Kazakhstan with reference to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Growing crops for strangers, of course, is nothing new. The long, grim march of colonialism was driven by Europe’s penchant for sugar, tea, tobacco and other crops that don’t flourish in northern climes. But as climate change and growing populations put ever more pressure on the earth, state-backed searches for land and food contracts as part of a national food-security strategy strike many as fundamentally new.

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund will turn its focus to commodities - particularly food and energy - in the second half of 2009, a senior official said yesterday.