Burma Archive

• Korea Times04 Dec 09

  Korea’s overseas development backfires

  That Korea is no longer "importing" this food that is being grown overseas implies that this land is effectively Korean. This amounts to agricultural imperialism.
• EspacesTemps.net23 Nov 09

  Extraterritoriality – Foreign Concessions: the Past and Future of a Form of Shared Sovereignty

  China has now taken on a leading role in promoting modernization through zones of exception, not only in China but also outside it.
• Hindu Businessline27 Oct 09

  Solvent extractors want Govt aid to buy farmland abroad

  The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India, a body of over 800 edible oil producing companies, is looking to buy tracts of agricultural land in South America, Africa and Myanmar.
• Joong Ang Daily25 Sep 09

  Korea shifting to agricultural aid in resource diplomacy

  The Korea Rural Community Corporation, under the Agriculture Ministry, said it is also in talks with other resource-rich countries about deals in exchange for support for the construction of agricultural infrastructure or farms. Among the negotiating partners mentioned were Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Senegal and Mongolia.
• IRIN10 Jun 09

  Asia: Land grabs threaten food security

  Sam Pov, a rice farmer in Cambodia’s western Battambang Province, is very worried that his land will be taken over by a foreign investor.
• Le Monde14 Apr 09

  The growing lust for agricultural lands

  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.
• Le Monde14 Apr 09

  Les terres agricoles, de plus en plus convoitées

  "Je crois que les tensions seront inévitables où que ce soit, faisant des enclaves agricoles étrangères de véritables forteresses assiégées."
• The New Security Beat03 Mar 09

  In Land Grab, Food Is Not the Only Consideration

  Governments in developing countries should exercise caution when granting land concessions to foreign governments and corporations. Despite the short-term investments, most – if not all – of the production will be exported, making the long-term food security situation even worse in these host countries.
• World Bank31 Jan 09

  Improving food security in Arab countries: Is land acquisition a viable strategy?

  Saudi Arabia and the UAE are worldwide leaders in buying farmland in third-party countries, followed by China and Japan, says the World Bank.
• Agweek12 Jan 09

  China appropriates foreign and domestic land to build its rubber empire

  Some Laotian farmers are losing their ancestral lands or being forced to become wage workers on what were once their fields
• Asia Tribune29 Oct 08

  Bangladesh-Myanmar contract farming: Opportunity for Bangladesh to meet agricultural shortfall

  Myanmar proposed to Bangladesh to take lease of at least 50,000 acres of land in its Rakhine state for contract farming of paddy, onion, maize, soybean, tea, and sugarcane
• Asia Times26 Sep 08

  Gulf states covet Asian farms

  Once committed largely to perceived safe-haven investments in the United States, Gulf nations are now looking to send their petrodollar surpluses towards a more exotic global destination: Southeast Asian farmland.
• Intellasia / Reuters04 Sep 08

  Qatar, Vietnam set up US$1b fund, eye agriculture, paper

  8Natural gas exporter Qatar and Vietnam have set up a US$1 billion fund to invest in sectors including agriculture. Sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority will provide 90% of the fund's equity, Gulf Times reported, citing Phung The Long, Vietnam's Ambassador to Doha. "We have exchange ideas about setting up an animal farm for breeding cattle and lambs," The Long said.
• New Straits Times03 Sep 08

  India looks abroad for land to grow oilseeds

  Some of India's top vegetable oil firms plan to lease or buy land in Paraguay, Uruguay and Myanmar to grow oilseeds and lentils as farmland shrinks in the South Asian nation, a top trade official said yesterday.
• Economic Times03 Sep 08

  Govt, India Inc plan to farm land abroad

  Contributing their bit to the global Indian takeover, the government and India Inc plan to buy sizeable land abroad for cultivation. Seen as a long-term answer to keep prices of farm products under control, the grand plan envisages acquisition of large tracts of land in neighbouring countries like Myanmar and far off places like Paraguay.
• Myanmar Times01 Sep 08

  Kuwait thrashes out farming deal

  A Kuwaiti delegation last week met with the Myanmar cabinet and industry officials to discuss investment in the agricultural sector.
• Kuwait Times17 Aug 08

  Several agreements signed on PM’s Asian tour

  In Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, His Highness the Prime Minister od Kuwait’s visit was of great importance given the promising financial investment opportunities in those nations. One of the main topics discussed was food imports from these countries as a means for securing food supply, facilitating a Kuwaiti energy supply to them, as well as cooperation in oil exploration and the agricultural field.
• Asia Sentinel01 Aug 08

  China Farms Abroad

  As other countries have pushed their industrial bases thousands of miles offshore in search of resources and labor, China is doing the same thing with agriculture, expanding as far away as Africa in its effort to feed its people.
• Reuters26 Jun 08

  Bangladesh seeks Myanmar farm land on lease

  Bangladesh urged Myanmar on Thursday to lease it farm land near the border for rice cultivation to meet its growing food demand, an official said.
• The Associated Press04 May 08

  China farms the world to feed a ravenous economy

  As Beijing scrambles to feed its galloping economy, it has already scoured the world for mining and logging concessions. Now it is turning to crops to feed its people and industries. Chinese enterprises are snapping up vast tracts of land abroad and forging contract farming deals.