The International Food Policy Research Institute said 15 million to 20 million hectares of farmland in poor nations were sold since 2006, or were under negotiation for sale to foreign entities.

The Angolan government plans to invest $1 billion in 2009 in the farming sector and welcome in U.S. Chiquita Brands International Inc to its banana industry. Other foreign companies and countries, including China have also said they plan to invest millions of dollars in the war-shattered nation’s coffee, sugar, cassava and palm oil industries.

Although it slipped past the world’s media, in mid-April it emerged that Jarch Capital had doubled its landholdings in Southern Sudan. That takes the acreage owned by Phillippe Heilberg and chums to a massive 800,000 hectares, or 3,000 square miles, which the firm claims will become a gigantic agricultural plantation.

El diez por ciento del territorio argentino está en posesión de extranjeros, lo que constituye alrededor de 300 mil kilómetros cuadrados, según un estudio realizado por la Federación Agraria Argentina en el año 2007.

Von Braun says many details of the land deals are unknown because of a lack of transparency. But he estimates the amount of land and money involved. “It adds up to 15 to 20 million hectares currently under negotiation…. So it’s fairly large. How much money is involved? If we add up the deals negotiated and the investments planned, it adds up to $20 to $30 billion of investment,” he says.

These land acquisitions have the potential to inject much-needed investment into agriculture and rural areas in poor developing countries, but they also raise concerns about the impacts on poor local people, who risk losing access to and control over land on which they depend.

Egypt may start selling farmland in tenders to foreign and local investors by June as part of a new agro-industrial zones project, the head of the country's Industrial Development Authority said.

The Philippines has offered to become a major source of agricultural products to Saudi Arabia ahead of a planned visit by the kingdom’s agricultural minister Fahd Balghunaim, Arab News reported on Wednesday.

Less than two weeks ago, Daewooinformed the public through the press that it stopped its plans for large-scale plantation in Madagascar. However, it was only a diversion to keep the local press away.

Il y a moins de deux semaines, Daewoo a informé publiquement par voie de presse l’arrêt de ses projets de plantation à grande échelle à Madagascar. Toutefois, ce n’était qu’une diversion pour éloigner la presse locale.

The Japanese government is drawing up plans to finance investments in agricultural production in developing countries, in the latest sign of nervousness about food security among countries that import agricultural commodities.

Emirates Investment Group is in the process of acquiring farmland in Pakistan to export more food to the Gulf region and is seeking international partners, a company executive said on Tuesday.