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Tempo Interaktif10 Feb 10As many foreign and local investor are seeking to win a license to invest in the giant agriculture project in Papua, Indonesia, one unnamed South Korean investor has obtained a permit. Mitsubishi is also bidding. Binladin Group has been rejected.
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Jakarta Globe17 Jan 10The development, under which many residents will be forced to sell their land, has met opposition from locals and non-government organizations. The Indonesian Farmers Union (SPI) has said that it will lead to a “land grab” by big businesses at the expense of locals.
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![Rattling the resource chain]( "Rattling the resource chain")
ISN Security Watch22 Dec 09Forecast reports on scarcity predict global actors will move in on dwindling resources. Governments are taking notice, and so should the public, Vivian Fritschi writes for ISN Security Watch.
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EIA11 Nov 09The planned expansion of plantations in the Papuan provinces of Indonesia should be immediately suspended and reviewed amid concerns over massive deforestation and widespread exploitation of local communities, environmentalists warned today.
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Reuters26 Oct 09The Saudi Binladin Group's $4.3 billion planned investment in Papua, east Indonesia, to develop rice fields has stalled because of problems acquiring land from local people.
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Arabian Business07 Sep 09Agricultural experts have called for a halt to moves by Gulf investors to snap up foreign land, amid claims that poor nations are losing much-needed farmland in a calculated land grab.
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Jakarta Post17 Jun 09Singapore's Temasek is seeking to buy land in North Bolaang Mongondow, North Sulawesi, where they plan to grow high-quality rice.
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![L’Arabie saoudite vise une autosuffisance alimentaire délocalisée]( "L’Arabie saoudite vise une autosuffisance alimentaire délocalisée")
Le Monde17 Apr 09En janvier, le premier riz “saoudien” produit à l’étranger a été présenté au roi Abdallah. Le consommateur saoudien ne goûte pas la différence. En dépit du renversement de conjoncture, il continue à payer son alimentation à un prix élevé, correspondant au niveau en vigueur pour les achats massifs effectués en 2008 afin de prévenir toute crise alimentaire.
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Zawya16 Apr 09Essentially, 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.
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Gulf News21 Mar 09Indonesia will allocate at least 2 million hectares of farm land to joint ventures with Saudi investors to be used mainly for the cultivation of rice, a Saudi newspaper reported on Saturday.
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TIME Magazine13 Mar 09Growing 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.
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![Binladin Freezes Plans To Invest in Local Rice]( "Binladin Freezes Plans To Invest in Local Rice")
The Jakarta Globe04 Mar 09The Saudi Binladin empire has frozen its plan to invest $4.3 billion in developing rice crops in Merauke in Papua Province and a separate project in Southeast Sulawesi Province.
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The Jakarta Post08 Dec 08Saudi-based investment firm Binladin Group is mulling at investing on agriculture projects here worth an estimated US$4.3 billion, which will be spent within the course of 15 years, says an official.
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![Rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply]( "Rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply")
The Guardian22 Nov 08Rich governments and corporations are triggering alarm for the poor as they buy up the rights to millions of hectares of agricultural land in developing countries in an effort to secure their own long-term food supplies.
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![Saudi’s Binladin Group to complete agricultural investment study soon]( "Saudi’s Binladin Group to complete agricultural investment study soon")
Jakarta Post19 Nov 08The Saudi Arabia-based Binladin Group is expected to wrap up a feasibility study by the end of this year on investment in a massive food business program that will be located primarily in the eastern part of Indonesia, a senior official says.
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Associated Press16 Nov 08Gulf nations now are quietly scouring the globe for rich farmland to rent or buy outright.
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![Bin Ladin Group to Invest in Food Production in West Java]( "Bin Ladin Group to Invest in Food Production in West Java")
Tempo08 Oct 08West Java governor Ahmad Heryawan said his province will become one of the many regions targeted by the Binladin Group for investment in food production.
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![Bin Laden Group to invest Rp14 trillion in Sulawesi]( "Bin Laden Group to invest Rp14 trillion in Sulawesi")
Antara18 Aug 08A foodstuff consortium from Middle-East countries planning to investment some Rp14 trillion through Bin Laden Group in South-East Sulawesi province, a senior adviser said here on Monday.
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![Bin Laden Group to invest Rp14 trillion in Sulawesi]( "Bin Laden Group to invest Rp14 trillion in Sulawesi")
Antara18 Aug 08A foodstuff consortium from Middle-East countries planning to investment some Rp14 trillion through Bin Laden Group in South-East Sulawesi province, a senior adviser said here on Monday.
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![Indonesia, Binladin group discussing $4bn rice project]( "Indonesia, Binladin group discussing $4bn rice project")
Dow Jones Newswires13 Aug 08The company will conduct a feasibility study of the proposed land area, in the Merauke district of Indonesia’s Papua province, before making their final decision. “We have been looking at other locations that might be suitable but Indonesia is first on our list,” a spokesperson said.