Kuwait

Cambodia has been signing deals with Kuwait and Qatar to help develop its agricultural sector. Cambodian officials, however, refuse to disclose details of the agreements, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Kuwait is also looking at making investments in other sectors in China, while also pursuing agreements in Southeast Asia to guarantee food security for the desert state that relies predominately on imports of food.

Saudi officials I have spoken to seem to be aware of the minefields their schemes could ignite.

It seemed like the perfect match. Kuwait has a lot of money and needs to import food. Cambodia has a lot of fertile land and wants to attract foreign capital.

Not a day goes by without new acreage being signed over. "For Sale" ads for agricultural property are now featured in the international financial press. And there's no dearth of clients.

"Je crois que les tensions seront inévitables où que ce soit, faisant des enclaves agricoles étrangères de véritables forteresses assiégées."

Growing crops for strangers, of course, is nothing new. The long, grim march of colonialism was driven by Europe’s penchant for sugar, tea, tobacco and other crops that don’t flourish in northern climes. But as climate change and growing populations put ever more pressure on the earth, state-backed searches for land and food contracts as part of a national food-security strategy strike many as fundamentally new.

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund will turn its focus to commodities - particularly food and energy - in the second half of 2009, a senior official said yesterday.

Cambodia's traditional sectors are foundering in the wake of the global financial crisis, but the Kingdom's farmlands could bring billions from Middle Eastern countries seeking food security.

Perhaps the UN’s hand-wringing is just sentimental. Deals will be done and the rush to buy land has begun in Europe, too.

A number of Kuwaiti businesses have expressed an interest in investing in agriculture in Laos, according to a Lao company owner.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are worldwide leaders in buying farmland in third-party countries, followed by China and Japan, says the World Bank.