The Communities who were contending over the equity distribution of ground rent by the owner of the estate, Wing Song M-House, finally reached a mutual understanding after a series of previous engagements with the ministry.

For more than a decade, some Bunong villagers have been trying to reclaim and gain legal recognition for their customary land that have been acquired by Luxembourg-based Socfin Group’s subsidiaries since 2007. Some details of the settlement were released this September, in a joint statement issued by the firms and community representatives who negotiated on behalf of 210 families in five villages.

Leader of the Indigenous community Uruwaarige Wannila Aththo filed a writ application with the Court of Appeal seeking an order to prevent the allocation of indigenous community lands for maize cultivation for leading companies.

On the occasion of International Indigenous Peoples Day August 9, Arkilaus Kladit, a member of the Knasaimos-Tehit people in West Papua Province, Indonesia, writes about the importance of his tribe’s customary forests and the fight to protect it from logging and palm oil.

IDH is working with FMO, the Dutch development bank -- which last year granted Zambian fully integrated tilapia operation Yalelo a $10.5 million senior secured loan facility -- to draw up guidelines for investing in African aquaculture.

Representatives of Phoenix Agro Industry and Trade Company CA expressed their intention to invite the world's leading agronomists to Uzbekistan to study the land plots allocated for investment.

The Philippines and PNG signed a five-year Memorandum of Agreement for greater cooperation on agriculture, including a tie-up on rice and grain production, as well as coconut and coffee production.

Supporters of family farming who oppose the rise of big-business agricultural practices in Missouri gathered to lobby legislators against concentrated animal feeding operations and foreign ownership of Missouri farmland

About 100 community members locked in a long-running land dispute with the owners of Koh Kong Sugar Industry Company clashed with Chamkarmon district security forces after blocking the street in front of the Land Management Ministry

With the impacts of climate change threatening food supply as population grows, China is buying land on other continents to grow more crops.

The UAE import 85 per cent of its food, and the government plans to develop farmland in other countries — due to the lack of arable lands in the UAE — to secure food supplies amid increasing demand.

The member countries also agreed to draft a unified strategy for cooperation with other Arab countries that have agricultural land, including Sudan, Morocco and Yemen, as well as with African countries.

Last week, hundreds of Sudanese protested in Eastern Khartoum demanding the government revoke the sale of farming lands to Gulf investors. There is no logical reason behind these demonstrations except ignorance of the reality of the GCC approach, says economist.

As conflict raged across Kachin state, a group of Chinese investors recently bought up large amounts of farmland in the Hukaung Valley and other parts of the state in order to expand rubber and cassava plantations, says Kachin peace activist, Khun Jar.

New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs says his country can be a logical partner for resource-rich Gulf countries as a producer of food in places like Africa, where experts say half of the potential agricultural land is under-utilised.

Leading Australian economists, commentators and even political enemies have joined the federal Minister for Trade and Investment Craig Emerson in condemning Opposition plans to tighten control over foreign investment.

The UAE is eying lands overseas in order to provide ongoing food supply to face the increase in the country’s population as the UAE imports steadily soared in the past few years, Ministry of Economy official said.

The government is in the final stages of introducing a Land Authority whose duties, among others, will include dealing with land investments as well as establishment of a land bank and database.

An MOU targeting $1 billion in aquaculture investments in Mauritania was signed between the National Prawn Company of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, with Saudi-based Al Rajhi also involved.

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the US government’s development finance institution, approved Wednesday a $150 mln financial package that will go to Citadel Capital, a regional private equity firm that just completed its first wheat harvest in Sudan.

Xinjiang and Nigxia present huge opportunities to Arab investors for mining coal, oil and gas as well as the development of wind and solar power, halal food industry and large-scale agriculture.

The Chinese Embassy in Wellington wheeled out a government spokesman today in a rare move, to tell New Zealanders they have nothing to fear from Chinese farmland investments.

Fifteen private firms from mainland China -- including Beidahuang Group -- are in the Philippines looking for investment partners in the agriculture sector

The UAE has purchased thousands of acres of arable land in Sudan to grow products for the home market, while Bahraini investors help meet demand in the kingdom from farmland bought in Thailand and the Philippines.

Ethiopia is on sale. Everybody is getting a piece of her. For next to nothing. The land vultures have been swooping down on Gambella from all parts of the world.

Gulf states are following in the footsteps of China and looking beyond their shores to make heavy investments in agriculture

”Argentina will welcome investment from Bahrain in its agricultural sector so it can guarantee its own food security,” Ignacio Rossi Sammartino, of the Commercial Section at the Argentine Embassy, told Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry board members.

Saudi and UK investors will travel to the Philippines in October to discuss "the possibility of food production in southern Philippines, with the government providing them the needed land".

UNCTAD believes pension funds, with their apparent focus on reputation, accountability, and the long term, could set new best-practice standards as they join the farmland investment trend.

Since GCC countries have the required financial capacity and advanced financial systems, they can benefit from investment opportunities in agricultural production in CIS, where Gulf funds may bring about significant changes in the production and trade in food commodities in global markets