The seizing of the poor farmers' land is destroying their only hope of survival on earth.

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.

“I got in on the ground floor, others got in on the second floor, but there’s a lot of floors left to go in Africa’s economic cycle,” says farmland investor Sai Karuturi.

Ramesh Krishnaswamy of Karuturi Global in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18

The EAC food security strategy advises partner states to “resist leasing or selling large chunks of land to foreign entities for food production or bio-fuels solely for export.”

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?

Growing world food insecurity is ushering in a new geopolitics of food scarcity, one where competition for land and water is crossing national boundaries.

While some North African countries are selling land, others struggling with dry climates are starting to buy land tracts overseas and in other African nations to feed their own growing populations.

Amid much talk about the need for "codes of conduct" to help regulate this new phenomenon, I found myself wondering whether Cecil Rhodes would have signed such a code. He probably would, and have then gone on to completely disregard it.

Even with new guidelines on land leases in Africa, the deals could lead to growing problems down the road, warned Emmy Simmons, a longtime USAID official

A move by Madagascar's army-backed leader to nix a huge South Korean farming deal has exposed the risks of such ventures in Africa.

"Today, the Oromo issue is not hidden from the world leaders and stakeholders. However, it is being ignored. The Meles regime is selling Oromo land on world market, although this government does not have the right to sell Oromo land."

The urgency among Gulf states to pursue farmland acquisitions has diminished as food prices have gone down and controversy has gone up. Still, Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with its plans.

Accaparement des terres - cas de l'Ethiopie - par AGTER

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

The ministerial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation met in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, last week, attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and representatives of more than 300 Chinese companies.

The UPA Government has deprived job opportunities to millions of illiterate and semi-literate Indians by forcing Indian companies to invest abroad in overseas plantations and coal mining sectors.

The Solvent Extractors Association, the Indian oilseeds industry body, has formed a consortium of 18 companies to acquire 10,000 hectares of prime farmland in a $40-million deal in Uruguay and Paraguay to cultivate oilseeds and pulses. The association says they are hamstrung only by access to finance, otherwise they have it all sewn up.

The Confederation of Indian Industry disagrees with critics of India's foreign landgrabbing for agriculural production

Rich food importers are acquiring vast tracts of poor countries' farmland. Is this beneficial foreign investment or neocolonialism?

A consortium of Saudi agricultural companies is looking to invest 150 million riyals ($40 million) into food production in Africa, the Agriculture Ministry said on Sunday.

The truth is that if exploitation of a developing country’s natural resources by the West is colonialism, so it is when rich countries of the South do the same.

With vast tracts of land being sold in Madagascar, and Sudan and other African governments actively seeking investors in agricultural land, are we witnessing a neo-colonial land grab or will the investment result in greater food productivity to the long-term benefit of recipient nations?

The initial welcome given to rich countries’ investment in African farmland by agricultural and development officials has faded as the first ventures prove to be heavily weighted in favour of the investors. The FAO warned of such a trend when it said this year that the race to secure farmland overseas risked creating a “neo-colonial” system.

Some of the world's richest nations are coming to grow crops and export the yields, hoping to turn the global epicenter of malnutrition into a breadbasket for themselves.

Global demand for arable land is rising, making Africa a key target for large-scale acquisitions to tackle food and energy challenges.

The Ethiopian Investment Holdings and Agricultural Works Corporation signed a 600 million USD shareholders agreement to jointly invest in a 15,000 ha Integrated Dairy and Commercial Farming Project with the United Kingdom’s Asset Green Company.

In recent years, Gulf economies have tackled their food dependencies not just by importing foodstuffs but through land enclosures, or the purchasing of agricultural land abroad, particularly in the Middle East, North and East Africa (but also as far as the United States and Australia)

With scarce arable land and water resources, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are expanding their agricultural diplomacy to improve food access and vying for agricultural cooperation with Africa