Karuturi Global Ltd

“I wouldn’t define it as land grabbing. We exploit the economic opportunities which came about after the food price shock of 2007,” says Birinder Singh, the manager of Karuturi Agro Products. BBC slideshow.

The growing insecurity and violence in Gambela, seen in the recent loss of human lives and attacks on government institutions, should be seen as a clear warning to investors about the dangers involved in large scale agricultural investments, says the Anywaa Survival Organisation.

Karuturi Agro Products Plc, part of holding company Karuturi Glolabal Ltd, is planning to go public, floating 200,000 shares worth 1,000 Br each to Ethiopian investors, once it gets the nod from its board of directors.

Ethiopia is forcibly relocating 70,000 people from Gambella to make fertile land available for foreign investment in agriculture--aggravating current hunger while laying the groundwork for future famine in Ethiopia

“There is no villagization programme,” Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, founder of Karuturi Global, told Mint via telephone. “This is a completely jaundiced western vision. They assume anything in Africa has to be done by the whites and the Chinese and Indians should have businesses only in their own countries.”

Le ministère éthiopien de l'agriculture s'oppose à ce que la compagnie Karuturi installe des milliers de fermiers indiens sur les terres qu'elle loue dans la région de Gambela.

The Ethiopian ministry of agriculture is against the firm Karuturi’s plan to install thousands of Indian farmers in land it has leased in the Gambela region.

Gilles van Kote, envoyé spécial du Monde, et Jiro Ose, photographe japonais basé à Addis-Abeba, se sont rendus dans la région de Gambela, à la pointe occidentale de l'Ethiopie, pour enquêter sur le phénomène de location de terres.

Rich soil, a tropical climate, and an abundance of water: the region of Gambela in the west of the country is fertile. Foreign investors are renting thousands of hectares of it to develop intensive agriculture without regard for the environment and the population, reports Le Monde.

Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi talks to the Times of India about his African safari.

Channel4News Jonathan Rugman has special report from Ethiopia on the revolution in agricultural production - but small tenant farmers say they now have less food to eat than before the changes began.

Investment by Indian-owned Karuturi Global has raised questions about whether Ethiopia is literally giving away the farm, or conversely, launching a 'green revolution' to help Ethiopia feed itself.