Channel 4 (UK) 29 January 2009

By: Nick Paton Walsh

Countries who are unable to produce enough food for themselves are scouring the world for cheap farmland to grow food and export it home, reports Nick Paton Walsh.

Never mind the food miles: when prices are soaring around the world some countries have found a way of keeping their own consumers happy - farming out their farms overseas.

China, South Korea and many Arab nations can't produce enough food for themselves, but they do have cash and plenty of it.

Now they are scouring the world for cheap farmland to grow their own food and export it home. It's a global trend which has already got the United Nations worried.

Huge plots of land in Africa have been secured and now many rich nations are looking elsewhere for farmland.

One of Asia's poorest countries, Cambodia, is at the top of their wish list.