It is essential that governments and international agencies act now to create not only a uniform code of conduct guiding foreign land acquisitions, but also an enforcement mechanism.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry is backing the government’s policy of allowing foreign investments in the country’s big plantations, as long as the investors do not violate Philippine laws.

A United Arab Emirates company will sign a deal with Egypt to cultivate 100,000 feddans, about 42,000 hectares, of land with wheat, corn and feed, the official news agency Mena reported on Tuesday.

Le programme, du nom « 7X7 », prévoit de développer 700 000 ha de terres agricoles pour produire en 7 ans 7 millions de tonnes de riz au Mali, au Sénégal et peut-être au Soudan et en Ouganda.

The $1bn project, dubbed 7X7, aims at developing 700,000 ha of farmland to produce within 7 years 7 million tonnes of rice in Mali, Senegal and maybe Sudan and Uganda.

After focusing for decades on oil, metals and minerals, Japan's huge trading houses are turning to agricultural commodities, with Tokyo enthusiastically supporting the shift amid concerns about local and global food security .

The social consequences of these land grabs are significant.

The craze for land grabbing grows out of speculation on future prices. Only the poor are the net losers.

Rich countries have been buying huge plots of land in poor nations in a trend that has been called a new scamble for Africa. Olivier de Schutter, the UN's point man on the issue, tells DW what to do about it.

More land will be set aside for growing food while companies will be encouraged to work with farms overseas to ensure that Singapore has a ready and stable supply of produce.

"Nous n’allons ni acheter, ni louer, ni acquérir des terres africaines pour produire des aliments afin de satisfaire nos propres besoins,’’ l’envoyé extraordinaire du gouvernement chinois, l’ambassadeur Liu Guijin, a réaffirmé, vendredi à Dakar

Debido a la amenaza que representa para el derecho a la alimentación de la población malgache y para el derecho de todos los pueblos a disponer libremente de su tierra y de sus recursos naturales, la población malgache se ha opuesto a este proyecto. El Colectivo de Defensa de la Tierra malgache ha dirigido varias peticiones al gobierno de Madagascar, exigiendo el cese inmediato de todos los proyectos de arrendamiento de la tierra y la revisión de las leyes que permiten a compañías extranjeras adquirir o arrendar tierras.