Paraguay

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.

The Solvent Extractors Association, the Indian oilseeds industry body, has formed a consortium of 18 companies to acquire 10,000 hectares of prime farmland in a $40-million deal in Uruguay and Paraguay to cultivate oilseeds and pulses. The association says they are hamstrung only by access to finance, otherwise they have it all sewn up.

India's edible oil industry, which has been trying over the past couple of years to venture into oilseeds cultivation in Paraguay and Uruguay, but could not make much headway due to high cost of finance, is charged up again to take fresh initiatives to realise the dream project.

Corporate pitch from Uruguay-based private equity firm Allied Venture for Indian investors to go into outsourced agriculture in Latin America

Allied Venture promo video for Indian investors

Japan is considering providing loans from a government-owned bank for companies to purchase and lease farmland abroad, Munemitsu Hirano, counsellor at the international affairs department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said.

La empresa India RCPL Food Processing Pvt. Ltda. desea invertir en la agroindustria de Paraguay, que a mediano y largo plazo puede llegar a US$ 500 millones, informó ayer su director, Dr. Satyendra Yaadav.

Driven by food security concerns, about 15 companies, led by the State Trading Corporation (STC), have formed a consortium to engage in corporate farming either in Paraguay or Uruguay. Among other notable firms that have joined the consortium are Gujarat Ambuja, Ruchi Soya Industries and Jhunjhunwala Vanaspati Ltd.

The Indian government is considering a proposal to enable banks and financial institutions to finance acquisition of farm land overseas for cultivation of pulses and 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.

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.

The fund’s strategy is to own and manage funds which operate in largely unsubsidised farming countries and are among the lowest cost producers of their chosen commodity or livestocks.