We had a meeting today on alternative investment vehicles and discussed hard assets. One of the topics was farmland. There’s lots of movement in this space. South Korea just leased more than 1 million hectares in Madagascar for 99 years. Abu Dhabi has publicly announced intent to invest in around 500,000 hectares. This could be an agrarian ace in the hand for the Philippines.
After a phone talk with one of my sources, I discovered that the branch office of Daewoo Logistics had nothing to do with it. Actually, the company which has dealt with this land matter was a Malagasy incorporated company: Madagascar Future Entreprise.
As the Caribbean and the rest of the world are still grappling with the global food crisis, Guyana is seeking to sell its vast land and water resources to United States investors as an area suitable for agriculture and aquaculture investment.
The food crisis this year generated unprecedented interest in Cambodian agricultural land, and governments are scrambling for access to the country's vast food-growing potential.
Colombian indigenous took their protest to Colombia’s capital Bogotá this weekend. Their struggle is about controlling the land in which they have lived and taken care of for hundreds of years, the latest culprits being irregular armed groups controlled by the traditional landowners and foreign companies (Chiquita Brands being the best example).
Saudi-based National Prawn Company (NPC), the world’s largest integrated shrimp producer, is planning an initial investment of $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) to start large-scale fish production in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The aim is to farm king fish, cobia, barramundi, mahi and milk fish using aquaculture installations on waste coastal desert land.
The Agriculture Minister of Saudi Arabia, Fahd Balghunaim, said that the government will set up an $801.1 million company to invest in overseas agricultural projects, Arab News reported.
China’s increasing dependence on foreign farming requires the European Union to take several measures.
A worldwide food shortage mixed with a global credit crisis has some countries getting creative. They're bartering food for other essentials. Javier Blas of Financial Times talks to Madeleine Brand about which nations are striking deals and what they're trading.
South Korea has just leased half of all the arable land in Madagascar according to the Financial Times. This has stirred quite a debate in the Malagasy blogosphere about land sovereignty and economic development.
Tenant farming was popular in rural America until the Dust Bowl years of the Depression, but the practice is making a comeback on an epic scale in much of Africa.
