Pambazuka News spoke to Anuradha Mittal, Jeff Furman and Frederic Mousseau about what prompted their research on large-scale investments in land in Africa and what they discovered.

Cientos de organizaciones de la sociedad civil, incluyendo movimientos de agricultores y ganaderos, grupos de mujeres y organizaciones no gubernamentales, harán un llamamiento internacional contra el acaparamiento de tierras en el marco de la reunión sobre agricultura del G20, celebrada en París el 22 y 23 de junio.

Des centaines d'organisations de la société civile notamment des mouvements paysans, des groupes de femmes et des organisations non-gouvernementales, lanceront un appel mondial contre l'accaparement des terres agricoles lors de la rencontre du G20 sur l'agriculture qui se tiendra à Paris les 22 et 23 juin.

Hundreds of civil society organisations including farmers' movements, women's groups and non-governmental organisations, will launch a global appeal against farmland grabbing during the G20 meeting on Agriculture in Paris on June 22 and 23.

Letter asks Indias to join with Ethiopians and other Africans in confronting the hundreds of Indian companies who are now at the forefront of colluding with African dictators in robbing the people of their land, resources, lives and future

Entretien avec Djigo Moussa, président du comité de suivi des affaires foncières, une structure mise en place par les représentants de 60 villages de la Moughata’a de Boghé pour produire un document par lequel, les populations feront valoir leurs droits sur les terres du Brakna mises à disposition d’investisseurs saoudiens par les autorités mauritaniennes.

Both companies are active farmland investors, with Citadel controlling a reported 200,000 hectares in Sudan and operating Egypt's largest dairy farm.

Llamado final a organizaciones para que se adhieran al llamamiento de Dakar contra el acaparamiento de tierras antes del 15b de junio de 2011!!

Final call for organisations to sign the Dakar Appeal against land grabbing before 15 June 2011!

Dernier appel aux organisations : Signez l'appel de Dakar contre les accaparements de terres avant le 15 juin 2011 !

The G20 has proposed a twin track approach as the way forward comprising piloting the PRAI (first track) and using the lessons learned to inform a consultation process (second track).

Several Shawi communities have learned that a Korean company, ECOAMERICA, has applied for the registration and titling of over 72,000 ha of land in their territories, at a price of 80 cents a hectare, for agriculture and logging.

Last week, bids closed for an 83% stake in Fonterra's biggest supplier, Dairy Holdings, which oversees 72 South Island farms. Bidders reportedly include Chinese dairy giant Bright Dairy, a pastoral fund owned by Australian investment bank Macquarie Group, British private equity firm Terra Firma. US private equity firm Carlyle Group and the Harvard Endowment Fund.

We must not suffer with a false ‘nationalistic’ sentiment because the same companies are disinheriting our own people from their land and using it for non agricultural purposes and then procuring huge land abroad to get it imported to India.

Faute d’investissements suffisants, moins de 10 % des terres gérées par l’Office du Niger, plus grand projet d’aménagement hydroagricole de toute l’Afrique de l’Ouest, sont exploités. Pour développer la zone, Bamako tente, tant bien que mal, de faire appel aux capitaux privés.

If the early reports are anything to go by, the Bangladeshi deals already incorporate many elements that suggest they are being done in a way likely to engender fierce resentment and opposition in the African countries concerned.

Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have united to draft laws to limit acquisition by foreigners of extensive tracts of their fertile agricultural land.

Brewster Kneen discusses what, in the West, is largely overlooked in discussions about land grabbing: how we conceptualize and think about land and our relationship to it.

The studies that we have seen can prove no link between land purchases and food security, says German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Personal Assitant on African Affairs.

Sugar may seem innocuous enough, but sweet-toothed Western consumers could be fuelling conflict between poor farming communities and big business with every spoonful. Sam Campbell reports from Phnom Penh

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.

The governments of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay are drafting laws to curb acquisition by foreigners of extensive tracts of their fertile agricultural land.

The government of Papua New Guinea suspended its Special Agricultural and Business Leases program which has granted concessions to mostly foreign corporations across 5.2 m ha of community forest land

"Brazil has the land and the technology to produce 50 percent of the world's (exported) food in the future. It's right that we stop and debate how best to exploit this opportunity to create wealth and jobs for Brazilians," said Fabio de Salles Meirelles, vice president of CNA, Brazil's largest farmer group.

Cette histoire de Terres africaines vendues ne me laisse pas de répit depuis au moins trois ans, écrit E. Mampouya

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

Governments often justify these deals by citing their potential contribution to economic growth – however, any gains risk being greatly outweighed by negative impacts on local livelihoods, say WRI

"The farmland that we are transferring to foreign investors is not the land that is being used by the locals," asserts Yaregal Aysheshum, former president of the Benshangul Gumuz Regional State in Ethiopia

While Brazil touts its efforts to slow destruction of the Amazon, another biodiverse region of the country is being cleared for large-scale farming. But unlike the heralded rainforest it borders, the loss of the cerrado and its rich tropical savanna so far has failed to attract much notice.

Foreign investments help Ethiopia to develop, and provide knowledge, skills and taxes, says Ethiopia's Ambassador to the UK.