Institutions including Harvard and Vanderbilt reportedly use hedge funds to buy land in deals that may force farmers out.

Foreign investment in land opens a new chapter in the colonization of Africa, said today (Tuesday) in London one of the leaders of the think-tank Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA).

Large-scale land deals in Africa have been characterized by a lack of transparency, making it impossible to assess their benefits, according to Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana.

Hedge funds are behind "land grabs" in Africa to boost their profits in the food and biofuel sectors, a US think-tank says

SMNE independent commentary on report regarding political impact and recommendations.

Wealthy U.S. and European investors are accumulating large swaths of African agricultural lands in deals that have little accountability and give them greater control over food supply for the world's poor

Foreign speculators are increasing price volatility and supply insecurity in the global food system, according to a series of investigative reports released today by the Oakland Institute.

A new scramble for Africa is under way. As global food prices rise and exporters reduce shipments of commodities, countries that rely on imported grain are panicking. Affluent countries like Saudi Arabia, South Korea, China and India have descended on fertile plains across the African continent, acquiring huge tracts of land to produce wheat, rice and corn for consumption back home.

"Could you include info in the briefing for my trip about what's happening in Africa in general and in the three countries. I'm visiting in particular about the sale and leasing of farmland to foreign interests (China, Qatar, etc)?"

For the sake of peace and future development cooperation, the nations of the Nile River Basin should come together to ban land grabs by foreign governments and agribusiness firms, writes Lester Brown

A new study into how virtual water moves around the world offers an explanation for the farmland leasing strategy, reports New Scientist

Amid some misgivings about India’s acquisition of vast stretches of land, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Wednesday rejected charges of land grab as “loose talk” and welcomed Indian investment for development.

Mr. Zenawi said it was possible that land-grabbing was going on elsewhere in Africa but not in Ethiopia, adding, “I want to reassure Indian companies that they are welcome here. We want them to come and farm what is virgin land.”

Ram Karuturi says he is targeting to acquire up to a million hectares of land in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa to build an integrated global agri-product company.

In some of the countries where the land investments are being made, people will block the trucks that are hauling the grain from the fields to the ports, says Lester Brown in this interview with NPR

The 24 Land lease agreements recently disclosed by the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture reveals that the federal Government has so far leased about 350,099ha of land.

The Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development recently released the Land Rent Contractual Agreements for land leases between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) and twenty-four companies or individuals.

Non-renewable water sources, such as lakes and aquifers, will not withstand significant foreign investment and intense agricultural production.

Are land and water rights for real? How can they be guaranteed in the face of the insurmountable bargaining power that big corporations seem to posses?

When land deals were first proposed, they were said to offer the host countries four main benefits: more jobs, new technology, better infrastructure and extra tax revenues. None of these promises has been fulfilled.

Karuturi Global Ltd. may receive an additional 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) of land from the Ethiopian government if its current 100,000-hectare concession is developed within two years, the Agriculture Ministry said.

Ethiopia achieved positive results in the agriculture sector, which in turn led to improved domestic production and better environmental standards, says UNCTAD.

"The reports claiming that the Government of Ethiopia has reduced the land concession given to Karuturi Global, are completely baseless," says Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, Founder & MD, Karuturi Global.

Ethiopia slashed the size of Karuturi’s land concession that was larger than Luxembourg on concern it was too big for a single company to manage and to enable an annual migration of antelope, the government said.

Film traces the story of the current mad race for control of farmlands, and the consequences it could have if nothing is done to protect the interests of small farmers and developing countries.

Southeast Asian palm oil firms like Malaysia's Sime Darby and Singapore's Golden Agri Resources are backpacking to Africa, in what could be the planet’s next trend-setter in inter-continental resource trade.

"It's criminal that available land that can be properly irrigated and cultivated in a modern sense, where new techniques are tried and taught to local farmers, is not yet put into production," says Bob Geldof.

From the Middle East to Madagascar, high prices are spawning land grabs and ousting dictators. Welcome to the 21st-century food wars.

The World Food Program intends to buy some of the grain produced in Ethiopia by foreign investors in order to assist hungry people. Ironically, this group of intended food aid recipients will include those working to produce it in the first place. Ethiopia's government is calling this sustainable development.

Au cœur du problème, la grande opacité de termes des accords passés entre les Etats et les grandes firmes.