Stephen Marks looks at the latest rush by China and countries in the middle east to sign lease agreements in poor countries for agricultural production, and what this trend means in terms of food security and access to arable land for local populations.

The Ethiopian government’s ambitious target of harvesting 28 million tonnes of cereals in the first three quarters of the 2007/2008 budget year has failed. Authorities seem determined to change this situation by leasing huge chunks of land to other sovereign states for mechanised farming.

"A path to agro-investments replacing international food aid"

Malaysia's biggest company Sime Darby has struck a deal with the Liberian government to develop oil palm and rubber estates in West African nation as land runs out at home and global demand for palm oil surges.

THESE days, as we follow the struggle against the Taliban in the northwest, we can be forgiven for missing other important news. For instance, I had filed away a report on plans to lease large chunks of agricultural land in Punjab and Sindh to overseas investors in the back of my mind, planning to write about it later. When I ran a Google search on the subject, however, I realised the enormity of the scam.When I ran a Google search

It is not clear whether a strategy is in place to ensure that part of the food produced by the rich food importers farms will be sold locally.

Uganda's minister of agriculture literally pleaded with the agribusiness delegates at a forum in Capetown to take advantage of Uganda’s extremely advantageous deals for private investors in the agricultural sector.

Contrary to past trends, countries in the Global South are initiating much of the investment.

If Indonesia decides to go ahead with leasing farmland, it should do so with caution, keeping an eye on both the risks and the opportunities. We need to understand that we have a very strong bargaining position.

Je me demande si l'agenda du développement rural semblerait déjà avoir été écrit à l'avance par toutes et tous... sauf par les paysans africains et malgaches eux-mêmes.

We challenge the line agencies, legislators and national government to immediately stop the leasing of public land to foreign corporations. Instead, public lands that have huge potential to ensure food security and nation building should be distributed to Filipino small farmers.

Le gouvernement du Cap-Vert a créé une société anonyme à capitaux publics en vue d’exploiter et gérer des terres agricoles mises à sa disposition par les autorités angolaises dans le cadre de la coopération entre les deux pays

Le G8 entend mettre un peu d'ordre et de principes dans la ruée mondiale sur les terres arables des pays du sud, à défaut de pouvoir s'immiscer dans les transactions qui privent les populations des terres dont elles dépendent.

A focus on agricultural productivity should not become a cover for foreign private companies to grab land or impose expensive, input-intensive methods in the name of modernisation.

"Nous pouvons être expulsés à n'importe quel moment. Ils vont devoir assécher la zone et tout ce qu'il nous restera sera la pauvreté". Bernard Onyongo, pêcheur de 65 ans, voit son mode de vie menacé par la ruée sur les terres arables africaines.

Ouyang Riping, PDG d’une société agricole chinoise, a une mission : transformer le Sénégal en grenier à sésame… pour la Chine ! Dakar lui cède 60 000 hectares pour cultiver et exporter le sésame vers Pékin. En échange, les chinois apprennent aux paysans sénégalais à obtenir deux récoltes de riz par an. Coopération originale ou marché de dupes ?

There may emerge a situation when Ukrainians will be starving in spite of having the most fertile black earth.

“It is the height of stupidity for our country to bargain our lands for the sake of other nation’s food security, while being dependent on importation for our very own food security needs,” says Rafael Mariano

The social consequences of these land grabs are significant.

A new breed of colonialism is rampaging across the world, with rich nations buying up the natural resources of developing countries that can ill afford to sell. Some staggering deals have already been done, but angry locals are now trying to stop the landgrabs

Il faut être extrêmement attentif à ce que la dimension Nord-Sud n’en vienne pas à occulter ce qui, dans ce phénomène, constitue la dimension principale : le risque de tension entre les intérêts des élites des pays hôtes des investissements et ceux des communautés locales que ces investissements affecteront le plus directement dans leurs moyens d’existence – petits paysans, populations indigènes, éleveurs de bétail.

Un document interne, récemment mis en ligne sur le site web de l’IRRI, révèle que l’Institut a conseillé l’Arabie saoudite dans le contexte de sa stratégie d’acquisition de terres agricoles à l’étranger pour sa propre production alimentaire.

La COPAGEN mobilise pour arrêter la course effrénée vers l’expropriation « légalisée » des terres avec la complicité de certains décideurs

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.

El ministro de agricultura congoleño, Rigobert Maboundou, dijo que este acuerdo forma parte de un Plan de Acción de su Gobierno para consolidar la agricultura como un pilar de su economía y que, además de este pacto, el mayor de este tipo firmado en África, tienen otros similares con China, Brasil e Israel.

"The motivation for South African farmers is simple," said Theo de Jager, Agri SA's deputy president, who helped negotiate the deal. "One in four farms must be redistributed in the next four or five years. So for new entrants into the sector and for those farmers who want to expand there is nowhere to go."

Prof Hastings Okoth-Ogendo died last month hours after his groundbreaking draft, ‘Framework and guidelines on land policy in Africa’, was approved by a conference of African Union ministers of land and agriculture.

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.

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.

Area nearly the size of France purchased, leased for food production around the world Africa, South America, parts of Europe targeted by cash-rich, food-poor nations