Investors in Africa’s agriculture sector need to be aware of the complexities surrounding land ownership.

Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management owns 31,500sq km of Australian grazing land on which it runs cattle and sheep.

The world’s second-oldest profession–farming–is a hot investment

Other countries believe their agricultural expertise can kickstart an agrarian revolution across the African continent

While Brazil touts its efforts to slow destruction of the Amazon, another biodiverse region of the country is being cleared for large-scale farming. But unlike the heralded rainforest it borders, the loss of the cerrado and its rich tropical savanna so far has failed to attract much notice.

Nigeria's Heirs Holdings Ltd. completes investment in Mtanga Farms, a 2,200 ha farming operation at the heart of Tanzania's national initiative to combat food insecurity.

Corporations and bankers do not believe in farming as a way of life; they believe in farming as a very profitable business that they control. Their goal is not to improve family farming in Africa, but to eradicate it.

World food security fears may be driving the foreign rush to buy Australian farmland and agribusinesses, says Nationals' leader, Warren Truss.

Afrifresh manages 14 farms across South Africa, with over 3,000 hectares under irrigation, in addition to its export agency business.

Dubai business leaders have urged the Government to snap up farmland overseas to grow basic staples as a buffer against soaring food prices.

Modern machineries of all sorts, owned and run by agri-companies, are turning the soils inside out, destroying forests and beginning to pollute the environment to get more production.

The investment is to enable Wellard grow the business through a number of identified agribusinesses opportunities throughout the wider Asian region.

Experts meeting at the World Bank in Washington, DC, discuss how best to assist African smallholder farmers to transition from subsistence to commercial farming.

Desde hace años, el propio gobierno marroquí está promoviendo por diferentes vías el arrendamiento de tierras al percibir suculentos ingresos y con la excusa de modernizar el sector y atraer la inversión foránea.

Locals in Liberia accuse company of illegally clearing their land and of poor labor and environmental practices.

A pioneer investor in farmland and the food price rally is looking ahead to new trends -- war, epidemics and climate change as the investment opportunities of the future.

India's ACIL Cotton Industries said it plans to invest nearly $15 million to start contract farming of crops like coffee, pulses, oilseeds, cereals, potato, sugarcane and vegetables through lease-hold agricultural land in Brazil, Congo and Ethiopia.

Food prices are soaring again and the highest risks of farmland expropriation remain in Latin America, while the greatest impact of the recent rally could be on land deals in Africa.

In Ethiopia, resentments over land grab have already started claiming lives. The TPLF regime has already killed 10 protesting ethnic Anuak farmers and has sent thousands more to concentration camps.

South African farmers moving to neighbouring African states are not putting SA’s food security under threat, says Willie du Plessis, a director of agricultural banking at Standard Bank.

A wikileaks cable discusses the transfer of the Lamu port deal from Qatar to China. Little word about the fate of the 40,0000 ha of farmland promised to Qatar, however.

Not surprisingly, the backlash from people in Africa against Indian farmland investments has begun.

Saskatchewan has some of the richest and least expensive farmland in the world, and there's a gigantic pool of global money that would like to buy up as much of it as they can.

Investors eyeing agriculture in global markets are increasingly merging their pursuit of profits with a philanthropic zeal.

When deals are struck, activists complain that large tracts of land can be sold from under communities, with protocol ignored and promises broken.

India's Karuturi plans to emerge as a leading player in agriculture in the African continent, with revenues from agriculture trumping revenues from floriculture in two years.

Wary of fluctuations on Wall Street, more wealthy Americans, private funds and foreigners are putting money into parcels of cornfields, fruit orchards and other US agricultural products.

Fonterra today signed an agreement with the Government of Yutian County in China which formalises the final stage of due diligence on two potential Fonterra dairy farm sites.

A conference organised by the East Africa Legislative Assembly and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation has chided East African governments for leasing land to foreigners without the explicit consent of existing users

What India can learn from China is not its alarming passion for buying farmland in poor countries but its awareness of the value of agricultural land to meet the food needs of its citizens.