Essentially, the Middle East is left with two choices. “The region has to import. The question is, invest abroad or rely on the free market?” said Dr Eckart Woertz, program manager in economics at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.
There are countless examples of governments handing it over at bargain prices to foreign investors, ranging from hedge funds to biofuel producers.
New book explains the reasons behind the land grab phenomenon and why so many Ethiopians are not only alarmed but also adamantly opposed to it.
- Ethiopian Review
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11 October 2011
Tanzania’s experience in the global land grab post-2008 led to shattered hopes, land conflicts & misery for small farmers. Yet, the current govt risks repeating history. A new report looks at this critical moment for Tanzania's small farmers & pastoralists.
Japanese groups assess the JICA contracts with the ‘Communications Strategy’ consultants and the ProSAVANA Master Plan (MP) Japanese consultant reports
- No! to Landgrab, Japan
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24 January 2016
An internal document recently posted on IRRI's website reveals that the Institute has been advising Saudi Arabia in the context of its strategy to acquire farm land overseas for its own food production.
In 2011, three village communities in eastern-central Côte d’Ivoire learned that a Belgian corporation called SIAT was about to move onto their land without their consent.
- IDEF et al.
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12 December 2017
Japanese experts provide an analysis of the ProSavana project's concept note for the development of a large-scale agricultural project in Northern Mozambique.
- Landgrab-Japan
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20 December 2013
Complex web of data reveals large swathes of country controlled by small number of billionaires and large companies
A delegation of 26 Egyptian agriculture companies led by Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza, is now inspecting land proposed by the Ethiopian government for Egyptian investment projects.
- NewBusinessEthiopia.com
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30 December 2009
Director General of UNIDO: says land acquisition through foreign investors must be carefully considered and strictly scrutinized.
- African Executive
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02 April 2010
One of the greatest threats Africa has ever faced is the impact from this new phenomenon of land-grabbing
- AllAfrica
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21 September 2012
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.
Civil society, including African farmers unions, need to educate local people that such land deals are not in their interests, however couched in 'win-win' terminology they appear to be.
"They are selling off African land for a song," said Ndiogou Fall, president of the executive committee for the Network of Peasant Organizations and Producers in West Africa (ROPPA), which is calling for dialogue between governments, producers and African and foreign investors.
Eritrean law blocking foreign investors from owning land and the country's desire for self-reliance makes it highly unlikely that it will fall for the neocolonial phenomenon of land grabbing.
- Geeska Afrika
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29 December 2016
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.
- Pambazuka
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11 December 2008
"The rush for land by outside players is more proof of the enormous potential of African agriculture. Africa itself must harness this potential," Kofi Annan says
Conversation with Maria Antonelli about the main drivers and implications of land transactions around the world, with a particular focus both on the role of EU.
- ClimateScience&Policy
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22 October 2014
Both public and private sector investors in the Gulf are also looking at ways to improve local food supplies, by investing in a range of outlets from arable farm land in the Sudan, Algeria and Pakistan to introduce new technology to enhance the local production of foodstuffs and grains, livestock, poultry and fish.
- The Middle East
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01 July 2008
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.
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.
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
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
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
It is not too late for equitable partnerships to flourish between foreign investors and local communities.
The participants will explore emerging trends in agriculture in GCC states and Africa and debate on how to turn them into mutually beneficial business relations between the two sides.
- Saudi Gazette
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25 November 2010
UAE is ready to build small dams for cultivation on lands they would acquire in Pakistan, provided the government ensures that there is no ban on exports.
- Pakistan Observer
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18 April 2011
Logging companies in PNG are using special agricultural leases to clear vast tracts of rainforest timber, on the promise of roads and economic development for remote villages. Jemima Garrett investigates.
Delegates demand that land should not be recklessly sold to foreigners during proceedings at Zambia's National Constitution Convention in Lusaka.
- The Times of Zambia
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19 April 2013