A global food crisis and rapid population growth are making farmland an increasingly attractive investment. Holly Black looks at the options.
Dalla Al Baraka, a Saudi conglomerate with $5 billion in annual revenue, has acquired two million acres of farmland in eastern Sudan to produce food for export to the Middle Eastern kingdom. While the investors are hoping to wean Saudi Arabia off imports from South America, such agreements cause concern among local Sudanese farmers.
The following report, by independent researcher Anna Bolin, explores the global trends and influences at work behind agriculture mega-projects like MIFEE in Papua.
- Down to Earth
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30 November 2011
The seizing of the poor farmers' land is destroying their only hope of survival on earth.
- Modern Ghana
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27 December 2010
Quietly, these modern-day land marauders are coming to Canada—undermining family farms, compromising local food sovereignty, and harming the environment.
- Dominion
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27 September 2010
Some projects aimed at increasing food production in Asia have been dropped or delayed amid the financial crisis, notes a new report by IRRI and the Asia Society.
- Wall St Journal
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26 September 2010
Du point de vue de GRAIN, ce rapport très attendu de la Banque mondiale est à la fois une déception et un échec.
GRAIN says the World Bank's much anticipated report on the global farmland grab is both a disappointment and a failure.
Hassad Food knows how to shop. The $1b subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund finalised a $500m agreement last year to grow wheat & rice on 100,000 ha in Sudan and has announced plans to invest $700m worldwide this year.
- The National
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02 September 2010
La polémique autour de l'accaparement de terres, en particulier en Afrique, est relancée par une étude de la Banque mondiale qui tarde à être publiée alors que le cours du blé repart à la hausse
Macquarie Group's agricultural division has launched a new cropping fund that will buy large-scale grain properties in Australia and Brazil.
- Stock & Land
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16 August 2010
Africa's untapped agriculture potential make it an ideal partner for resource-constrained Middle Eastern countries that seek to improve their food security, a new report from Standard Chartered Bank said.
- Trade Arabia
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22 July 2010
The government of Brazil is studying the possibility of prohibiting the purchase of land by foreigners. A discussion with the journalist who broke the news, Mauro Zanatto.
- El Espectador
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24 June 2010
Outline of major Ukraine companies open to farmland investors
Unfortunately, the US Senate inquiry into Goldman Sach's alleged malfeasance is unlikely to question why the company in 2008 decided to acquire ten intensive poultry farms in China's Hunan and Fujian provinces for $300 million.
- Huffington Post
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04 May 2010
MCC is playing a key role in commodifying Africa’s farmlands
Le MCC joue un role clé dans la marchandisation des terres rurales africaines
La lutte contre l’accaparement de terres a au Mexique une longue histoire. Le rejet du “Procede” dans les communautés indigènes, l’occupation de grandes propriétés au Chiapas à la suite du soulèvement zapatiste, la résistance des paysans d’Atenco et tant d’autres conflits montrent que l’initiative de la Banque Mondiale dans notre pays ne passera pas.
Les gouvernements africains ont multiplié les contrats de location de terres agricoles avec des sociétés étrangères au cours de ces cinq dernières années. Le phénomène n'est pas nouveau mais les motivations, les acquéreurs et le rythme d'acquisition, oui.
The Congo ventures are not core businesses to be based in the Congo but instead, extensions of businesses located in South Africa
- Mail & Guardian
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12 Mar 2010
Right now communities in Latin America, as around the world, are suffering a new kind of invasion of their territories
More radical steps are being taken to increase production, both by the government, which recently approved two new strains of genetically modified rice, and by agricultural entrepreneurs, who are buying and cultivating land in neighbouring countries.
- Guardian
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23 February 2010
Ethiopia must harness its enormous agricultural potential, not by selling it off as a cheap commodity, but by supporting farmers in growing culturally appropriate crops for domestic markets, using agro-ecologically sustainable farming methods.
- FoodFirst
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04 February 2010
Les organisations mondiales et les ONG commencent à s'alarmer de l'ampleur du rachat des terres agricoles. Le problème, selon elles, c'est que ce sont les gouvernements des pays hôtes qui négocient directement les accords avec les investisseurs, sans consulter les populations concernées.
- Journal du Net
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14 January 2010
Uganda has agreed to allow Egypt to cultivate wheat on Ugandan soil.
- Daily News Egypt
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12 January 2010
The much-discussed Congo land-lease, granting 200,000 hectares to South African farmers with a further 10 million hectares in the balance, appears to mark a departure from the usual terms underpinning foreign acquisition of fertile land by multinationals
- Pambazuka
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07 January 2010
Les organisations paysannes maliennes et sénégalaises rendraient un fier service aux autres paysans africains s’ils pouvaient obtenir les termes des contrats et les publier.
- abc Burkina
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04 November 2009
UAE foreign investment in food production have so far focused on leasing Pakistan and Sudan’s agricultural land, with new prospects in Cambodian rice, Canadian wheat and Australian beef. Alongside the strategic deals at the national level, private investment has followed which should open new channels of trade, for example, Al Qudra Holding has plans to grow grain and vegetables in Vietnam and Croatia as well as Pakistan.
- The National
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25 October 2009
Vita Grain Group, which is backed by US $60 million of funding, owns more than 20 different strains of hybrid rice seeds. Vita Grain is looking for funding to expand its seed production beyond Africa to Asia, the US and South America. The company is also setting up a rice mill in Mauritius and is in talks with partners in Botswana, Madagascar and Mozambique to develop rice production units.
- Business Times
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06 October 2009
China's sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, has bought a 14.5 per cent stake in grain trading and production firm Noble Group for US$850 million.
- Reuters
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22 September 2009