“We have finalised plans for the corporate farming project and we have the capabilities to meet the food requirements of the GCC countries," said Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan, Investment Minister of Pakistan. “They will be able to export 50 per cent of the crop while the 50 per cent would be sold in Pakistan,” adding that 6.65 million acres of land for agriculture is available in Pakistan.

Private equity used to stay away from anything to do with agriculture, put off by the uncontrollable risks of bad climate and natural disasters. And yet in the last three years some big funds have been launched in the agribusiness space, and they are busy trying different ways of mitigating the risks.

Von Braun says many details of the land deals are unknown because of a lack of transparency. But he estimates the amount of land and money involved. “It adds up to 15 to 20 million hectares currently under negotiation…. So it’s fairly large. How much money is involved? If we add up the deals negotiated and the investments planned, it adds up to $20 to $30 billion of investment,” he says.

Bahrain and Turkish trade links took a step closer yesterday with the signing of an agreement for an agricultural project initially worth $0.5bn (BD189 million), rising to $3bn (BD1.13bn) and eventually $6bn (BD2.26bn), said Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro at the signing ceremony.

THE overthrow of Madagascar’s president in mid-March was partly caused by water problems — in South Korea.

FAO believes that the time has come to give deep thought to creating the conditions to ensure the success of international ‘joint-ventures’ for food production

The Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki, returned from a visit to Qatar on Monday. His spokesman said the request for land in the Tana River delta, south of Lamu, was being seriously considered. “Nothing comes for free. If you want people to invest in your country then you have to make concessions,” the spokesman said.

Africa could be the breadbasket for the GCC, providing valuable water and food supplies to the entire region, a Bahraini expert claimed yesterday.

Investment opportunities between Africa and the GCC are ripe for the picking, says a top government official.

Saudi Arabia is in a better position to forge politico-economic partnerships with other countries with a view to achieving food security. The best partner in this respect is Sudan, known as the food basket of the Arab world. But foreigners are reluctant to invest in Sudan and the efforts made by the Sudanese government to overcome this reluctance have not met with much success.

Vision3, an alliance of three major Gulf financial institutions, has signed a landmark deal with Turkey paving the way for nearly $9 billion investment in Turkey’s agricultural sector.

Japanese food corporations are stepping up their diversification and security of food sources, in particular taking ownership of the entire supply chain, from owning the farms in other countries, through to the processing and distribution of the food stuffs.

Cru Investment Management, the UK-based $800 million absolute return investment company, yesterday announced targeting the region and unveiled its plans to offer its new Africa Agriculture Fund in the Middle East early next year .This fund will invest in commercial agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the aim of helping to alleviate poverty in the region, while not compromising returns for investors.

The Rivers State Government has reiterated its resolve to create an enabling environment to enhance rice production and processing, as well as promote and protect other agricultural business interests in the state.

A new joint strategy for agricultural investment will be launched by the GCC soon, it was announced in Bahrain yesterday.

The World Bank and Wall Street firms targeted for African land deals displacing hundreds of thousands.

With more savvy investors buying up farmland, land prices have doubled within five years and the result is mega-farms like KTG Agra, which owns 50,000 ha in eastern Germany, Lithuania and Romania.

We hear from Liberia, where foreign investment is finally starting to flood in after years of civil war. Big international companies are arriving and taking over vast areas of the country - in a move some local farmers and activists describe as a land grab.

In April 2024, ENI said to Quang Tri authorities that it sought suitable areas in the province to plant trees, in order to generate feedstock for its bio refinery factory in Italy.

The Lagos Aquaculture Centre for Excellence initiative – a joint venture between the Lagos State government and Dula Agro-Services Limited, located on 35 hectares of land in Igbonla, Epe, is designed to serve as production facility for fish fingerlings, processing, and as an off-take facility for all fish farmers in Lagos

The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) and Chinese conglomerate, SINOMACH have agreed to jointly develop a large-scale sugarcane cultivation and processing project in Nigeria.

The Ondo State Government has secured 10,000 hectares of land in the Southern Senatorial District for a $200 million agricultural project.

A Nigerian-owned agribusiness firm, JR Farms, has entered a partnership with the Cross River Government to develop a 30,000-hectare coffee plantation across the 18 local government areas of the state over the next five years.

Peruvian Agriculture Minister Angel Manero on Monday announced some $24 billion in largely public-private projects to improve irrigation in the Andean nation, as the government looks to expand its farmlands by some one million hectares

Egypt approved an amendment to the Desert Land Law granting Arab investors the right to own lands on an equal footing with Egyptians.

There have been protests by the farmers that have plantations in the Forest Reserves as the State moves to hand them over to some foreign partners for oil palm plantations.

The Okomu Oil Palm Company in Edo State, Nigeria has suspended its operations in the aftermath of an incident described by management as a “terrorist attack”.

Government of Nigeria is pumping new money into the palm oil sector but the funds go to companies like the European giant Socfin, not small Nigerian farmers

A fund that supports Saudi agriculture investments abroad on the condition that at least 50 per cent of the project’s crops be exported to the Kingdom has tripled the value of its loans since 2016.

The pandemic has opened an opportunity for activities such as illegal logging and land grabs across Asia-Pacific because of less oversight and accountability.