I came across the word “peasant” as a small boy in 1979. That was my second year of learning the English language when government Census officials came knocking on our door in Western Kenya armed with two big English words I had never heard before; “Occupation” and “Peasant!”

A recent jump in rich country land purchases in the developing world has caught the attention of analysts in trade and human rights circles.

The people who have agreed to give out their land for free to SEKAB have been mislead by unrealistic promises

"A Thirst for Distant Lands: Foreign investment in agricultural land and water" provides a synopsis of current trends in the expansion of foreign investment in agriculture.

A conference in Utrecht on 8 July 2009

The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation is planning to set up model farms in Uganda. So far, one site of 200 hectares suitable for wheat growing has already been identified at Labora, Koro sub-county in Gulu district.

Kenya’s plans to lease out about 100,000 acres of land to a Gulf state for agriculture at a time when the country is facing serious food shortages has been criticised.

Le gouvernement devrait lancer, en juin prochain, des appels d'offres pour la vente de terres agricoles à des investisseurs locaux et étrangers, dans le cadre du projet d'une nouvelle zone agro-industrielle, a indiqué le chef de l'Autorité du développement industriel, Amr Assal.

Pakistan dramatically increased the amount of farmland open to foreign investors to six million acres, but will require outsiders to share half of their crop with local growers, Pakistan’s investment minister told Reuters.

The Philippine agriculture department has assured that the government’s bid to attract foreign investments to farm ventures will not compromise the country’s food security and self-sufficiency targets.

Prof Hastings Okoth-Ogendo died last month hours after his groundbreaking draft, ‘Framework and guidelines on land policy in Africa’, was approved by a conference of African Union ministers of land and agriculture.