Ethiopia’s strategy of leasing farmland to foreign investors is not without critics.

Turkey has been in talks for the past year with “three big international funds” in order to hire out agricultural lands. One of the deals will be announced very soon, the country's investment promotion agency says.

The list of Indian companies that have purchased land in Africa is quite long and includes companies in businesses ranging from agriculture and horticulture to engineering and metals.

La Tunisie a ce qu’il faut pour être une destination pour les investissements agricoles arabes, ce qui la dispenserait de se contenter de l’exportation vers les marchés du Golfe, par exemple, de quelques tonnes de dattes ou de grenades Seulement, des actions inédites devraient être mises en route et de nouveaux processus mis en branle pour intéresser ces investisseurs.

Golden VerOleum plans to acquire 200,00 hectares in south-eastern Liberia. The target areas are Grand Kru, Maryland, River Cess, River Gee and Sinoe counties. The export plans are based on a plantation system in which there are about 10 hectares for each worker.

Until last year, people in the Ethiopian settlement of Elliah earned a living by farming their land and fishing. Now, they are employees.

A delegation of 26 Egyptian agriculture companies led by Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza, is now inspecting land proposed by the Ethiopian government for Egyptian investment projects.

Citadel Capital will deploy significant capital across East Africa in 2010 in sectors spanning from agriculture to consumer foods.

On December 22, Ukraine's parliament adopted a surprisingly unanimous decision to extend the moratorium on the sale of agricultural lands until 2012. Now the ball in the president’s court – he has always considered land to be a commodity.

L’Union Tunisienne de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche a proposé au secteur privé saoudien la réalisation de projets d’investissements conjoints dans le secteur agricole dans plus de 5 millions d’hectares de terres fertiles et pavées pour l’agriculture mis à la disposition.

As food aid stamped with the World Food Programme's logo is shipped to Sudan, thousands of tons of wheat and rice are shipped out.

Mr Massimov said Kazakhstan was negotiating an agreement with China to fund farming projects in Kazakhstan. “We are not giving China any land. The land code forbids it. But if we have a buyer [for crops], be it China or Arabia, then let’s sell,” he said.

A veteran American hedge-fund manager has launched a $100m fund to invest in American farmland as fears of food inflation grow.

Qatar is one of the leading investors in the agricultural sector in Sudan, says a former minister of irrigation of Egypt.

Some compare it to a hold up on land; others say it is a development booster. Experts, politicians and Non governmental organizations disagree on their analysis of what is called “land-grabbing”-or the acquisition of farm lands- a practice on the increase.