There is a lot of focus on the growing global population and what it means for food demand. One result sees investors taking notice of returns on resources that provide food, including farmland.

The growing number of complaints from local communities, civil society organizations and the media about the activities of foreign investors in the country has got the government to unveil an investment monitoring unit

With 75% of the world's population making their living from farming, buying land in foreign countries to feed your country's growing population is not always welcome by the locals. Are land grabs good business or is it morally questionable?

For Gambellans who live as pastoralist and subsistence farmers, massive dispossession and auctioning off their land for pennies will inevitably destroy the very fabric of their society and way of life and threaten them with extinction.

A U.N. intergovernmental body on food security has failed to adopt international guidelines on land governance, delaying efforts to regulate so-called land-grabbing as investors race to snap up agricultural land.

A group of twenty Dutch companies visited Juba this week, looking for business opportunities. In the South Sudanese capital they bumped into a 50-member strong delegation from Japan, who was there for exactly the same purpose. Meanwhile, the Indians are on their way.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture plans to conduct a media tour accompanied by officials next week in Gambela to increase public awareness surrounding land grabbing issues.

Developers hover as 5 million hectares, and national pride, are signed away in 99-year leases that have raised fears of corruption.

Socfin Agricultural Company is embroiled in serious land lease agreement tussle that has the tendency to ignite conflict between foreign investors and locals.

Civil society organisations and global farmers' networks are gathered in Rome this week to ask governments to stop the "disastrous practice of land grabbing", ahead of next week's Committee on World Food Security.

Commodities investor Jim Rogers has been appointed to the board of the farmland investment firm Genagro Ltd

With opportunities in neighboring countries almost finished and due to the expensive land, Brazilian agriculture has started showing up in Africa, here and there, but promising to grow.

Lease contracts covering millions of hectares of agricultural lands signed by the Philippines Department of Agriculture with foreign entities during the Arroyo administration are currently being reviewed to determine if they are in accord with the current administration’s food security plan.

Land rights activists have been expressing their fears and concerns about the malicious trend of selling or leasing large farmland to foreign multinational companies and governments.

Unfortunately, given the global nature of capital, even if the US were to completely shut down speculation, it would just move offshore.

Foreign-investor purchases of farmland in poorer nations are displacing local populations and adding little to a country’s wealth, even as agricultural prices increase, according to Oxfam International.

Recent steep rises in land prices worldwide, alongside rising food prices, are prompting more governments to introduce restrictions on overseas land ownership in an attempt to protect against perceived threats to domestic farming interests and food availability.

Dutch-owned Genesis farms is producing Nerica rice seeds on 220 acres of land leased for 20 years in Port Loko District, Sierra Leone.

Agrifirma, a private investment company backed by financier Lord Rothschild, transferred around half of its assets to a new joint venture with Brazilian private equity firm BRZ Investimentos.

North Korea plans to rent several hundred thousand hectares of land in the Amur region in Russia's Far East to grow vegetables and grain

The idea of combining the greed of investors with the fight against hunger as a mutually beneficial business venture has failed miserably

Calvin Burgess recorded statement to police over threats on his life after he was chased by angry villagers who were protesting eviction from their farms which the company insists belongs to them.

A Singapore-based investor in agriculture is to put in an investment of $50 million in 10,000 hectares of fully irrigated and precision levelled commercial rice farm in Ondorie area of Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

The likelihood of Ethiopia facing stiff competition from Tanzania and Uganda in attracting investment from Indian agri-businesses reared its head during a visit from a 35 member delegation last week.

Australian farmer Doug Clarke says farmers should not be criticised for making a commercial return from selling their farms to Chinese investors, if the government’s current rules and regulations allow it.

The Boerenbond Association, the largest corporate organization of farmers and operators working in agriculture in Belgium, is interested in investment opportunities in Romania's agriculture, including the possibility of buying farmlands there

China's most powerful agricultural company, Beidahuang Group, is looking to acquire 80,000 hectares of Western Australia farmland, with several farmers on the verge of signing.

Nirmal Seeds wants not more than 30,000 hectares of land in Tanzania to invest in seeds production to feed the local market.

The combined force of the US based Oakland Institute's research and advocacy on African land deals and local, democratic activism in South Sudan has effectively stalled plans for the largest land deal in the area.

Last week, Uganda received a 35 man business delegation from India interested in the country’s agribusiness potential and boosting its exploits. Mr Ramakrishna Karuturi, the leader of the delegation, said the team intends to invest up to $2 billion in agribusiness pending the issue of investment licences.