There is an epidemic that grips Africa, says Father Aniedi Okure

Changes and sudden loss of lands for indigenous people have far-reaching implications besides livelihood, income, and food. Despite pressure on indigenous communities, people are finding ways to defend their rights.

A lucrative agro-industrial crop like palm oil, in a context of entrenched corruption and an authoritarian regime, lends itself to land grabbing and agrarian violence.

Large scale businesses like Wilmar risk being labeled land grabbers, but we don't have that in Nigeria, says Minister of Agriculture Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.

There are countless examples of governments handing it over at bargain prices to foreign investors, ranging from hedge funds to biofuel producers.

It is important to unpack what land grabbing really involves if we are to understand what is really happening.

Largest cut flower exporter Karuturi Global ventures into food business

BBC film looks at large-scale industrial farming investments in Zambia.

Internationally-funded Guatemalan palm oil and sugar cane interests evict Mayan Qeqchi families from their historic lands, destroying homes and crops, killing one, injuring more, while thousands are without food or shelter.

It is not too late for equitable partnerships to flourish between foreign investors and local communities.

Acquiring land elsewhere for cultivation impoverishes farmers there and degrades soil

Saudi Arabia, along with Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, want to buy more than $1 billion worth of Aussie farmland in a 21st century land grab.

China’s investment in Australian agribusiness has tripled in just a year as China strives to meet rising demand for high-quality food among its growing middle class. Major agribusiness deals included acquisition of the S Kidman & Co cattle empire and acquisition of Tasmanian dairy giant Van Dieman’s Land.

The Beidahuang Group has been dismayed by what it regards as negative media coverage of its investment in agricultural land in Australia and plans to scale back while it still purchases more farms.

Agriculture Minister Terry Redman says Western Australia should embrace moves by Arab interests in the Middle East to buy prime Wheatbelt farmland to secure their future food supplies. Two groups from the Middle East are due to visit the State early next year as they consider investments of up to $1 billion in cropping, sheep and dairy production in WA.

Chinese property development conglomerate Shanghai Zhongfu has won the sole right to develop 15,200ha of high-value irrigated agricultural land in northern Australia..

Vicstock Grain and its Chinese backers (Beidahuang) have dramatically scaled back their cropping operations in the Wheatbelt three years after a $70 million spending spree on farmland.

A Chinese company with strong links to the family of Li Ka-shing, one of Asia’s richest men, is on the verge of securing farms covering almost 70,000ha after the biggest single offering of freehold land in Western Australia’s history.

Kimberley Agricultural Investment, owned by Chinese company Shanghai Zhongfu, has told the State Government "on an informal basis" it wants freehold ownership of the 6000ha Knox Plain area, in northern Australia.

A US pension fund investor that flies under the radar has continued its spending spree on quality agricultural land in WA with the purchase of two farms in Grass Patch for about $9 million.

The writing is on the wall for anyone who doubts China's plans to invest billions of dollars for a big stake in WA agriculture.

The Saudi Agricultural Livestock Investment Company has emerged as the likely buyer of Australia’s biggest single parcel of broadacre farming land, based in the Wheatbelt.

Government considers the development of two plots of land on the Ord River irrigation scheme so risky that it demanded a $150 million a year guarantee from the Chinese company behind the farming project.

Former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke lobbied Colin Barnett to allow a Chinese company to buy a large package of land in the Ord River.

Kevin Rudd has committed to double the amount of land for farming in northern Australia and simplify investment rules for foreign investors, to take advantage of the boom in Asian demand for produce

Companies linked to China's biggest agricultural conglomerate are being flooded with offers to buy or lease "hundreds of thousands" of hectares of land in Australia's Wheatbelt in the early stages of their bid to create an independent grain supply chain from the port of Albany.

Hassad Australia chief executive Tom McKeon said the company employed people from local communities, supported local businesses and paid tax. The company owns 11 farms over 250,000ha in Australia, including three in WA.

Liu Jianjun, a former Chinese government official who runs the Baoding-Africa business council, has contracts to farm 10,000 acres in Uganda, to build a cornflour processing factory in Kenya and for a farm project in the Ivory Coast.

Felda Holdings, the world's largest estate owner, is in talks to buy up to 90,000ha of land across South-East Asia

A net-zero land rush is sweeping the country, and both locals and wealthy “green lairds” are trying to buy in