Could the Middle East become a significant new source of offshore investment in Australia’s extensive northern cattle industry?

Cru Investment Management PLC, a company based in Cardiff, UK, forecast a 30% return for an agricultural fund that generated profit from farms in Malawi.

Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud says Guyana has been asking Libya to help develop mega-farms in the interior, where the majority of inhabitants live in poverty and depend on rice cultivation for both food and income.

C’est une véritable ruée sur les terres agricoles du continent qui se développe silencieusement sous nos yeux. Bien que peu d’informations précises soient encore disponibles, il importe de lancer la réflexion afin d’alimenter un débat objectif et serein.

Perhaps the UN’s hand-wringing is just sentimental. Deals will be done and the rush to buy land has begun in Europe, too.

China is not pushing to expand overseas farming and Chinese companies are less active in their investment abroad because of concerns of potential political risks, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia has announced the arrival of the first food crop harvested in Saudi-owned farms abroad, in a sign that the kingdom is moving faster than expected to outsource agricultural production.

The African Union has until July 2009 to decide on an extremely sensitive issue highlighted by the Daewoo case in Madagascar, but that is only the tip of the iceberg.

The Saudi Binladin empire has frozen its plan to invest $4.3 billion in developing rice crops in Merauke in Papua Province and a separate project in Southeast Sulawesi Province.

Governments in developing countries should exercise caution when granting land concessions to foreign governments and corporations. Despite the short-term investments, most – if not all – of the production will be exported, making the long-term food security situation even worse in these host countries.

‘The small farmers cannot do anything in the face of this giant. We can only cry over the loss of our ancestor’s land, that we have tried to preserve as best as possible,’ says Rindra Andriambola, co-ordinator of the Andasibe red rice Slow Food praesidium.

Organizaciones como Vía Campesina -una “internacional” de campesinos que se organizó para resistir la globalización neoliberal y proponer caminos alternativos de soberanía alimentaria- u ONGs nacionales de Brasil, Argentina, Uruguay y otros países están inquietas hace rato por la extranjerización de las tierras, y han forzado en algunos casos la sanción de leyes protectivas.