More radical steps are being taken to increase production, both by the government, which recently approved two new strains of genetically modified rice, and by agricultural entrepreneurs, who are buying and cultivating land in neighbouring countries.
- Guardian
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23 February 2010
La véritable nouveauté semble être le déplacement de l’épicentre de la spéculation de l’économie virtuelle vers l’économie réelle, précisément l’agriculture de marché, qui est non pas un facteur de sécurité alimentaire, mais la source même de péril climatique, d’insécurité alimentaire, et d’insécurité tout court.
- Le Républicain (Bamako)
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19 February 2010
There is something amazingly patronising in the way Payne claims that Emergent has ‘adopted’ a Mozambican village of 3,000 people and hired its citizens to clear 2,000 acres of land to farm it with her firm.
- Agriprods
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18 February 2010
As many foreign and local investor are seeking to win a license to invest in the giant agriculture project in Papua, Indonesia, one unnamed South Korean investor has obtained a permit. Mitsubishi is also bidding. Binladin Group has been rejected.
- Tempo Interaktif
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10 February 2010
Standard Chartered Bank's Africa private equity arm and a unit of Reliance Capital are in talks to invest in Dubai-based Karuturi Overseas.
- VC Circle
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09 February 2010
Ethiopia must harness its enormous agricultural potential, not by selling it off as a cheap commodity, but by supporting farmers in growing culturally appropriate crops for domestic markets, using agro-ecologically sustainable farming methods.
- FoodFirst
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04 February 2010
US government cable discusses 24 January 2010 meeting organised by Swiss Development Corporation, UN Food and Agriculture Organization and International Fund for Agricultural Investment on "Land, Investment, and Development," attended by many of the key players working on responsible international agro-industrial and land investment principles
- Wikileaks
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04 February 2010
The Indonesian government is wise to learn from the South Korea Daewoo-Madagascar deal, which demonstrated the enormous economic, social and political risks associated with foreign ownership of land and water rights.
- CSR Asia
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03 February 2010
A discussion note prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNCTAD and the World Bank Group to contribute to an ongoing global dialogue.
- World Bank
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25 January 2010
A foreign company intends to clear 10 000 hectares of land in the Bwabwata National Park in northern Namibia in order to set up a large-scale irrigation scheme for crop farming
- The Namibian
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22 January 2010
The media and environmentalists must intensify their focus on the environmental costs of international farmland transactions.
- World Politics Review
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20 January 2010
Les organisations mondiales et les ONG commencent à s'alarmer de l'ampleur du rachat des terres agricoles. Le problème, selon elles, c'est que ce sont les gouvernements des pays hôtes qui négocient directement les accords avec les investisseurs, sans consulter les populations concernées.
- Journal du Net
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14 January 2010
Uganda has agreed to allow Egypt to cultivate wheat on Ugandan soil.
- Daily News Egypt
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12 January 2010
Lawrence Asset Management's Ravi Sood suggests investing in food production in low-cost areas that are water-rich – Brazil, tropical Africa, Malaysia and Indonesia.
- Globe and Mail
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11 January 2010
He confirmed that the Ministry received very wide offers of investment by Arab and foreign investors.
- IRAQdirectory.com
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09 January 2010
The much-discussed Congo land-lease, granting 200,000 hectares to South African farmers with a further 10 million hectares in the balance, appears to mark a departure from the usual terms underpinning foreign acquisition of fertile land by multinationals
- Pambazuka
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07 January 2010
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.
- NewBusinessEthiopia.com
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30 December 2009
Citadel Capital will deploy significant capital across East Africa in 2010 in sectors spanning from agriculture to consumer foods.
- Business Daily
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29 December 2009
"On today's Human Rights Day, we demand that States fulfill their obligation to respect and protect the right to food of their citizens and abroad by preventing large scale land grabbing" says Sofia Monsalve of FIAN International.
Ethiopia's potential can be maximized only if we Ethiopians are the producers and sellers of our own agricultural products. What Meles Zenawi is doing now is putting this upside down. He made our potential buyers the sellers of our commodity.
- Ethiomedia
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03 December 2009
Au Mali, le gouvernement a approuvé des baux à long terme permettant à des investisseurs extérieurs de mettre en valeur plus de 160 000 hectares de terre, mais des agriculteurs locaux disent avoir peur d’être chassés.
In Mali the government has approved long-term leases for outside investors to develop more than 160,000 hectares of land. Local farmers say they fear being pushed out.
Sources close to Al-Amoudi said that the king has shown an interest in seeing other Saudi companies involved in rice farming after seeing the samples presented by Al-Amoudi
- Addis Fortune
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24 November 2009
"Personnellement je ne vois pas ce que les petits producteurs peuvent gagner avec des investissements privés étrangers de masse." Un entretien avec Moussa Djiré.
- Défis Sud
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18 November 2009
Area nearly the size of France purchased, leased for food production around the world Africa, South America, parts of Europe targeted by cash-rich, food-poor nations
- Circle of Blue
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17 November 2009
Les organisations paysannes maliennes et sénégalaises rendraient un fier service aux autres paysans africains s’ils pouvaient obtenir les termes des contrats et les publier.
- abc Burkina
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04 November 2009
"Qatar is in the process of formulating a national strategy for food security that we expect to shift from a focus on land ownership in developing countries to land leases and joint ventures with the private sector in developed countries," reports the US Embassy in Doha
- Wikileaks
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03 November 2009
UAE foreign investment in food production have so far focused on leasing Pakistan and Sudan’s agricultural land, with new prospects in Cambodian rice, Canadian wheat and Australian beef. Alongside the strategic deals at the national level, private investment has followed which should open new channels of trade, for example, Al Qudra Holding has plans to grow grain and vegetables in Vietnam and Croatia as well as Pakistan.
- The National
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25 October 2009
El ministro de agricultura congoleño, Rigobert Maboundou, dijo que este acuerdo forma parte de un Plan de Acción de su Gobierno para consolidar la agricultura como un pilar de su economía y que, además de este pacto, el mayor de este tipo firmado en África, tienen otros similares con China, Brasil e Israel.
"The motivation for South African farmers is simple," said Theo de Jager, Agri SA's deputy president, who helped negotiate the deal. "One in four farms must be redistributed in the next four or five years. So for new entrants into the sector and for those farmers who want to expand there is nowhere to go."
- National Post
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21 October 2009