Not since Belgium's King Leopold turned the Congo into his personal market-garden has so much land been allocated to offshore nations.

News of the deal has aroused very vehement protest from the Sudanese Farmer’s Union and the tenants in the Gezira Scheme.

A controversial new farms policy has led to a number of arrests and the killings of 10 local farmers, say local activists.

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.

Les superficies cultivables au niveau mondial sont supérieures aux superficies nécessaires pour garantir la sécurité alimentaire de l'humanité. Ces résultats questionnent les analyses qui mettent en avant l'augmentation des rendements comme seule réponse possible à l'accroissement des besoins alimentaires mondiaux.

Indian company signs an MoU with Zambia Development Agency to facilitate the acquisition of 100,000 hectares of land for agricultural development in Zambia.

Not surprisingly, the backlash from people in Africa against Indian farmland investments has begun.

Contract covers the lease of 25,000 ha in the Regional State of Gambela for a period of 40 years, with option for renewal, for the production of sugar cane.

Covers 10,000 ha in Gambela Regional State for the production of rice, for an initial period of 50 years, with option for renewal.

Abu Dhabi's Jenaan Investment owns and leases properties in Egypt and Sudan, as well as leasing land in Tanzania, Ethiopia and the US.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia will continue to invest in acquiring farmland abroad as part of their strategy to secure food supplies.

Ethiopians do not need multinational food companies to improve their livelihood.

Neha sold off its farm in Pune and shifted operations to ethiopia where it has lands for floriculture and food grains.

Karuturi has an agreement to provide 40,000 tons of rice to neighboring Djibouti.

If what is going on in Gambella was happening in New Delhi, India; in Oxford, England; in Bismarck, North Dakota; in Saskatoon, Canada; this would be unthinkable.

Entebbe Declaration on Large Foreign Land Aquisitions

“The pain to pass my lost land each day is so big that I cry,” says local chief.

Karuturi is perhaps the poster child for the big land grabs that have characterized large scale agricultural investment in Ethiopia

Farmland is a compelling way to capitalize on the coming bull market in agricultural commodities, but it’s a high-risk proposition.

“If we get money [from renting out our land] we can buy food anywhere. Then we can solve [Ethiopia's] food problem,” says Abera Deressa, minister of state for agriculture

“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.

“We should be supporting our own farmers and letting Africans cultivate their own land in their own way," says Slow Food President.

MMTC, Iffco and Bharti are the latest to find the continent’s land and labour attractive for their agribusiness.

The Egyptian external agricultural land deals are all the more fragile as a future government or policy change in Ethiopia or Sudan risks destabilizing their external food security strategy.

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

African governments should avoid rushing into big land lease deals with foreign investors or risk deepening poverty and ramping up social tensions, an official at the UN's Food and Agriculture Office said

Sannati Agro Farm Enterprise Plc received a 10,000ht plot of land in Dimi District, Gambella Region, for the cultivation of rice, pulses, and cereals, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on October 1, 2010.

Addis Abaaba has decided to withdraw from the regional governments the right of attributing leases of over 1,000 ha. However, the 2010 federal budget lists no income whatsoever, and no information on this subject appears in the quarterly reports of the National Bank of Ethiopia.