Senator Waqar said that a new investment policy for the next 10 years is on cards which would be prepared with the consultation of private sector.

Arab agricultural ministers decided to urge government-owned and private companies, as well as Arab financiers and industrialists, to invest in common agricultural projects in qualified countries. The future belongs to those who produce their own food.

Sudan seeks to focus on Arab food security during the Arab Economic Summit, which will kick off on Monday, said Finance and National Economy Minister Awadh Al-Jazz. "We have extensive land plots, and great water and animal resources."

"The only protection against international land-grabbing that we can see for the Philippines is the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill, a bill written by us peasants to protect our right to land and to achieve food security for our country"

Lonrho Agriculture will develop 25,000 hectares of agricultural projects in the Provinces of Uige, Zaire and Bengo in Angola.

Land ownership could prove contentious. In the distant past, it was often held by communities as a whole or vested in traditional authorities. State officials now often have the greatest say. That opens the potential for official abuse of yet another valuable resource.

Kuwait granted Cambodia a 546-million-dollar agricultural loan in August in return for crop production.

The government has defended its decision, saying that under the agreement, Qatar will help Kenya develop an equivalent number of hectares for its own food security.

As Kenya prepares to declare a national emergency in response to food shortages, the government's agricultural policies have come under growing scrutiny. A proposed deal to lease land to the government of Qatar for agricultural use has received particular attention.

Sri Lanka has offered farm land to Qatar to grow food on the fertile island.

"Since 2005, the Burmese Government has encouraged investors from China, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Kuwait to invest in contract farms," reports the US mission in Rangoon

Some Laotian farmers are losing their ancestral lands or being forced to become wage workers on what were once their fields