Largest cut flower exporter Karuturi Global ventures into food business

New book explains the reasons behind the land grab phenomenon and why so many Ethiopians are not only alarmed but also adamantly opposed to it.

Indian floriculture companies are moving into other agri-products in the world's second-largest continent.

Japan should shun this new kind of colonization like a plague, no matter what well-paid city-based officials may say.

An Observer investigation reveals how rich countries faced by a global food shortage now farm an area double the size of the UK to guarantee supplies for their citizens

Companies from countries across the world have acquired fertile Nile-irrigated land for growing food crops, non-food agricultural commodities such as alfalfa, flowers, tobacco, and biofuels, rearing livestock and logging trees.

India can ill-afford to be tainted by accusations of complicity in land deals that disadvantage the people of Africa given the role it sees for itself in promoting co-operation among countries in the south.

The scariest aspect of this unfolding phenomenon is that despite the foreseeable terrible consequences, the appetite among the rich countries to own a piece of this developing-country fertile land continues to grow, turning to an ugly competition.

Joining the neo-colonial bandwagon, Indian companies are taking over agricultural land in African nations and exporting produced food at the cost of locals

Obtaining millions of hectares for farming in Africa, Indian firms are playing predator.

A land grab is taking place all across Africa, a transfer of control unprecedented in the post-colonial era.

A controversial new farms policy has led to a number of arrests and the killings of 10 local farmers, say local activists.

AN extraordinary new process has been at work in the past few years: the aggressive entry of Indian corporations into the markets for agricultural land in Africa, writes Jayati Gosh

BRICS states, except Russia, are enhancing and facilitating land grabs abroad in a way that is inconsistent with their proclamations of sustainable development, cooperation solidarity, and respect of national sovereignty.

Africa’s agriculture and food industries are attracting increasing interest from investors. This trend is largely fuelled by the fact that the continent has 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, with favourable weather conditions in many countries.

Despite the lucrative returns that foreign investors can achieve by investing in African agriculture, the on-the-ground realities of operating in the continent is often less rosy.

Fear of unrest and hunger for profit are sparking massive acquisitions of farmland.

An Ethiopian court has handed down a nine-year jail sentence to a leading dissident from the restive region where the government has leased vast tracts of land to foreign investors.

One year after their arrest on March 15, 2015, three food, land, and human rights defenders continue to languish in an Ethiopian jail on the spurious charge of “terrorism”.

A petition denouncing the unjust imprisonment of three Ethiopian human rights defenders is being presented this week to the Ethiopian government as well as its financial backers.

Thousands of Ethiopians are being relocated or have already fled as their land is sold off to foreign investors without their consent.

As land and water become scarce, as the earth’s temperature rises, and as world food security deteriorates, a dangerous geopolitics of food scarcity is emerging, writes Lester Brown

Since the financial and food crises of 2008, the World Bank Group has incentivized and facilitated land grabs in several countries in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia.

Foreign speculators are increasing price volatility and supply insecurity in the global food system, according to a series of investigative reports released today by the Oakland Institute.

Like Karuturi’s disappeared $100 million farm investment, the Addis Ababa expansion plan embodies the perils and contradictions of the Ethiopian regime’s strategy of securing internal calm through economic growth and strong ties with foreign powers.

African countries are also welcoming big agricultural projects bankrolled by foreign investors whose goal is to send food abroad.

The G8 countries are implementing a New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in six African countries that will facilitate the transfer of control over African agriculture from peasants to foreign agribusiness.

Indigenous Ethiopians demand a stop to human rights abuses stemming from agricultural investment policies

For millions of indigenous villagers and pastoralists land grabbing means forced relocation, loss of livelihoods, and a death blow to their ancient cultures.

Water grabbing refers to situations where powerful actors take control of valuable water resources for their own benefit, depriving local communities whose livelihoods often depend on these resources and ecosystems.