Standard Bank Plc has affirmed its commitment to finance agriculture in Africa over a long term because Africa has vast stretch of arable lands. Additionally, the bank intends to improve food security and eliminate hunger in the world.

The news of BHP's recent bid for Potash Corp has brought the issue of investing in food security to the forefront, with CFSGAM, H3 Global and WLM Financial hot on the sector's trail.

African governments need to raise their level of accountability and ensure that they improve and protect their own food security through quid pro quo side-agreements negotiated when they lease or sell their arable land to foreign interests, says Keith Mullin of Thompson Reuters

Fears foreign interests have been mounting a major land grab in New Zealand, have been shot down by global accountancy firm KPMG.

From virtually nowhere, China has rocketed to become the biggest foreign direct investor in Brazil this year with purchases ranging from iron ore mines to vast tracts of farmland and the electricity grid.

There are plenty of examples in the world of countries that can no longer feed themselves because somebody decided it was cheaper or more intelligent to buy all their food from somebody else.

To speak only of the ‘threats and potential opportunities’ that these investments highlight leaves underexposed the grave risks to human rights that they pose, writes Dr. Margot Salomon, from the London School of Economics

The way to make it possible for third parties to benefit materially in exchange for a signature is to eliminate the profit motive.

As the world's available farming land shrinks in the face of population growth, climate change and soil degradation, Australia's vast tracts of land are going to be increasingly important for global food security. Is the sell-off in Australia's long term interests?

UAE-based investment company Al Barakah has shown interest in developing agriculture and farming projects in Bulgaria.

Africa's untapped agriculture potential make it an ideal partner for resource-constrained Middle Eastern countries that seek to improve their food security, a new report from Standard Chartered Bank said.

Standard Bank plans to finance more land deals involving South African farmers seeking expansion opportunities across the continent to grow export crops, the bank said on Friday.

A South African farmers group said on Friday it had received fresh offers from African states, including Sudan and Mozambique, to invest in agriculture to grow export crops and some of the deals will be concluded soon.

Private equity firms like Rabo Equity Advisors and IL&FS Investment Managers may be in talks with Karuturi.

"We support continued efforts to develop principles for investment in the agricultural sector undertaken by the World Bank, regional development banks, FAO, UNCTAD, and IFAD," say G8 heads of state.

A new class of farmers is on the rise in Ukraine. Three articles about the situation with foreign investors taking control of the country's farmlands.

At a recent conference in Cairo, South Africa and Zimbabwe were the only African nations not considered safe havens for foreign farmland investment because of uncertainty about land-reform programmes and unfriendly labour environments.

Capital flows into Africa, include farmland acquisitions by foreign investors, rose 16 percent in 2008 to a record $62 billion even as FDI that year fell 20 percent worldwide

MCC is playing a key role in commodifying Africa’s farmlands

Le MCC joue un role clé dans la marchandisation des terres rurales africaines

‘In order to feed a growing population with an increasing standard of living, the price of water and food must continue to rise."

The most unbelievably naïve reaction to the news that a mysterious Chinese company is hoping to buy up to $1.5 billion worth of dairy farms came from Federated Farmers, which said that this is an “unintended consequence” of the NZ/China Free Trade Agreemen

JICA is building a new development model to encourage increased agricultural production in Africa, both to help prevent another global food crisis and to deter a land grab by foreign enterprises across the continent, according to Senior Vice President Kenzo Oshima.

The Indian construction company has decided to cultivate pongamia pinnata and edible oil seeds there

Standard Chartered Bank's Africa private equity arm and a unit of Reliance Capital are in talks to invest in Dubai-based Karuturi Overseas.

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.

Swedish Count Carl Gustav Wachmeister bought 3,310 ha in Victoria State, Australia

Which option is better? Letting the status quo prevail? Or taking advantage of opportunities offered by oil producing countries searching for safe food sources?

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food launches a call for cases that illustrate the links between security of land tenure, access to land and the right to food.

Developed nations attempt to secure supplies of food and biofuels to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the food and energy security of their populations, Khadija Sharife writes in this week’s Pambazuka News