"The UAE is looking not just at land [acquisitions] but developing the whole supply chain," says Nicholas Lodge, managing partner at Clarity, a consultancy that advises on investments in agricultural industries.

Investors from the Arabian Peninsula are keen to get on the ground floor of the continent's real estate, agriculture, and energy markets

Arab states should buy land in Kurdistan and Kazakhstan to produce staple foods to secure future food resources says a senior Arab League official.

The UAE should instead be looking to diversify and better monitor its agricultural investments abroad, says Dr Raed Safadi, the deputy director of trade and agriculture at the OECD.

Communities without economic power that live off of land to which they do not “own” are devastated when their government transfers the property rights to wealthy outside interests, who exploit the natural resources.

"It's criminal that available land that can be properly irrigated and cultivated in a modern sense, where new techniques are tried and taught to local farmers, is not yet put into production," says Bob Geldof.

The UAE will look to invest in farmland in Turkey as rising prices raise the urgency of food security, says Sultan al Mansouri, the Minister of Economy.

Gulf governments have focused almost exclusively on controlling land where food is grown, investing in projects and buying land in North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and central Asia. Perhaps the better strategy would be to look for food closer to home.

Hassad Food knows how to shop. The $1b subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund finalised a $500m agreement last year to grow wheat & rice on 100,000 ha in Sudan and has announced plans to invest $700m worldwide this year.

Such huge transfers of agricultural power must surely come with consequences that are worthy of closer regulatory inspection.

Saudi Binladin has been trying for almost two years to persuade Indonesian smallholders to sell their land. Policy may need to be rethought.

"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."

As part of its policy of food security, Abu Dhabi acquired 30,000 hectares of land last June through its development fund to grow alfalfa, which is used to feed cattle, and other crops such as corn.

“It is the height of stupidity for our country to bargain our lands for the sake of other nation’s food security, while being dependent on importation for our very own food security needs,” says Rafael Mariano

The problems of securing for women the right to land tenure require more effort and nuanced attentiveness than is likely to happen in the face of a juggernaut of efforts to outsource food production by countries like Saudi Arabia and for bio-fuel production for countries like South Korea.

Investors from the UAE are considering a number of investments in Pakistan, despite escalating violence in the north-west of the country.

The Federal Minister of Investment in Pakistan, Waqar Ahmed Khan, said this week that the government plans to sell or lease 1 million acres of farmland to foreign investors, primarily from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Although the news has yet to gain much coverage, if carried out it could punctuate growing unrest and frustration, given Pakistan’s limited amount of arable land and population of more than 170 million.

The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization is expanding its Abu Dhabi office tenfold to broker deals with farmers in such areas as the Horn of Africa.

The Government is considering the purchase of farmland worth US$500 million (Dh1.8 billion) in Pakistan as part of a strategy to lower food import costs.

Indonesia plans to clear forests about the size of Belgium to produce sugarcane-derived bioethanol, rice and other food crops, potentially displacing Indigenous groups who rely on the land to survive.

The Nasarawa State Government has commenced the harvest of its 2,000 hectares rice farm in Jangwa village of Awe Local Government Area, as part of the 10,000 hectares initially earmarked for its food security programme

PNG's Trade Minister says over 100,000 ha of lands can be made available for a rice farming project with investors from the Philippines in the areas of Brown River, Vanapa, Gabadi and Bereina.

Fayus Group says it has committed over $100 million along with other investors under the Edo State Oil Palm Program to establish 46,000 ha of oil palm plantations over the next five years.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria says that all the states in the South-South and South-East regions have agreed to provide at least 100,000 ha for investors in oil palm plantations.

Investors from the Middle East have been tempted by African agribusiness for years, and a report on Monday by real estate consultancy Knight Frank suggests demand is growing.

Um comerciante de terras brasileiro envolvido na venda de terras agrícolas para fundos de pensão dos Estados Unidos, Canadá, Alemanha e Suécia poderá sofrer processo criminal por ter grilado terras.

Some prominent Nigerians, including wealthy foreign investors, are purchasing huge tracts of land for farming with projects worth millions of naira

A South Korean food security office will open in Abu Dhabi next month to help the UAE in its agricultural and fishery sectors, says the country’s ambassador to the UAE.

Farmers in Kula, Serbia have made formal complaints about an Abu Dhabi company, Al Rawafed Agriculture, which is trying to acquire land.

The film shows a contract worth just US$25,000 (Dh92,000) for 600,000 hectares of land, with full exploitation rights, made out to Howard Douglas, a former United States ambassador and coordinator for refugee affairs.