Oil-giant Saudi Arabia plans to set up a new investment fund to buy agricultural land overseas in an effort to meet rising food demand in the Middle East’s largest economy, a Saudi official said.

8In a bid to ensure its long-term food security, Bahrain is negotiating a series of import agreements and investing in farmland in South East Asia.

Three of the Gulf's biggest financial house has teamed up to launch three investment vehicles worth $10 billion (Dh36.7bn). The 'strategic' alliance between Gulf Finance House, Ithmaar Bank and Abu Dhabi Investment House covers the infrastructure, agricultural and hospitality sectors and are expected to bring return on investments in 18 months. The agricultural fund is considering Australia, China, the Philippies, India and North African countries for food production and livestock.

“We are investing in land in Sudan, Pakistan and Egypt to secure food supplies without being at the mercy of market fluctuations,” Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd, Minister of Environment and Water, said at a conference in Dubai yesterday.

Quelque 95 tonnes de graines de sésame transportées par un avion charter sont arrivées samedi à l'aéroport Léopold Sédar Senghor de Dakar pour les besoins d'un projet de partenariat entre un investisseur privé chinois et l'Etat du Sénégal

Given its unsuitable climate for agricultural development, the UAE must look abroad if it is to significantly expand its agricultural output. Pakistan could be the perfect partner.

Corporate ownership of world food sources may be shifting into high gear. Goldman Sachs, the private equity investment bank of the ultra wealthy and powerful, has announced that it's in the race to scoop up assets related to food production.

While Saudi Arabia sets up its first sovereign wealth fund, ordinary Saudis are more preoccupied with the rising price of food. This is prompting the Saudi government to consider a new direction for foreign investment: buying farms in the poorer parts of the world.

Japan's big trading houses, which have enjoyed bumper years from betting on iron ore and metals, are getting into the food market, aiming to tap voracious demand in China and emerging economies.

Alarmed by exporting countries’ trade restrictions, importing countries have realised that their dependence on the international food market makes them vulnerable not only to an abrupt surge in prices but, more crucially, to an interruption in supplies.

A foodstuff consortium from Middle-East countries planning to investment some Rp14 trillion through Bin Laden Group in South-East Sulawesi province, a senior adviser said here on Monday.

A foodstuff consortium from Middle-East countries planning to investment some Rp14 trillion through Bin Laden Group in South-East Sulawesi province, a senior adviser said here on Monday.

The race by food-importing countries to secure farmland overseas to improve their food security risks creating a “neo-colonial” system, the United Nations’ top agriculture official, Jacques Diouf, has cautioned.

Kuwait is talking with Asian countries about securing food supplies and investing in agriculture as the Gulf state looks to diversify its sources of food, state news agency KUNA reported yesterday.

In Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, His Highness the Prime Minister od Kuwait’s visit was of great importance given the promising financial investment opportunities in those nations. One of the main topics discussed was food imports from these countries as a means for securing food supply, facilitating a Kuwaiti energy supply to them, as well as cooperation in oil exploration and the agricultural field.