Malawi has agreed to lease arable land to Djibouti for crop production, leaders of the two countries have disclosed, the Nations reported on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabian investors want to lease 500,000 hectares of farmland in Tanzania to grow rice and wheat.

There is a need to allow countries which do not have access to arable land to guarantee food security of its people by an “Exchange Agreement”.

Hyundai Heavy Industries -- the world's biggest shipyard -- has bought a big tract of Russian farmland in one of the latest diversification moves by Korean firms. But here's a question: Have performance- and profit-obsessed Hyundai Vice Chairman Min Gye-sik and its CEO Choi Kil-seon voluntarily decided on the move or has the company's biggest stakeholder pushed for the plan?

Malagasy farmers have backed a move by the country's new president to stop a $6 billion land deal with South Korea's Daewoo Logistics, saying it would have come at the expense of local people's needs for land.

Saudi investors have asked Tanzania if they can lease 500,000 hectares of farmland mainly for rice and wheat farming as part of a plan to secure food supplies for the desert kingdom, officials said.

Jarch Management Group, Ltd., a US investment firm, disclosed that it is considering additional opportunities to lease large tracts of farmland in Southern Sudan.

The region continues to have great market potential as a number of Thai rice companies have offices there and some have been approached by local governments to invest there in milling, processing and even growing rice.

Vision3, the promoter of AgriCap, the investment vehicle conceived to invest in visionary initiatives across the agriculture sector in the greater MENA region announced today that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the General Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises (TIGEM), a Turkish governmental agency falling under the authority of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Bahrain and Turkish trade links took a step closer yesterday with the signing of an agreement for an agricultural project initially worth $0.5bn (BD189 million), rising to $3bn (BD1.13bn) and eventually $6bn (BD2.26bn), said Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro at the signing ceremony.

Essentially, the Middle East is left with two choices. “The region has to import. The question is, invest abroad or rely on the free market?” said Dr Eckart Woertz, program manager in economics at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.

Abu Dhabi's food imports increased considerably during the past two years as the cultivated area contracted and the level of self-sufficiency in several commodities and livestock went down, the emirate's Department of Planning and Economy has revealed. The department yesterday called for a strategic plan to achieve food security through an increase in agricultural investment outside the UAE, especially in Sudan.