UAE

Russian grain processing firm PAVA plans a farmland investment road show across the Gulf region over the next two months and is open to selling shares to Middle East investors as it aims to triple the land under its control.

Our government is planning to offer Arab investors legislative cover to protect them from changes in the government, but hardly any attention has yet been given to the need for protecting poor labourers who will be working for Arab corporate agriculture companies

In its bid to experiment with new ideas, the Pakistani government has decided to play host to overseas investors keen on acquiring farmlands to capitalise on food insecurities post-2007-08 crisis.

Emirates Investment Group is in the process of acquiring farmland in Pakistan to export more food to the Gulf region and is seeking international partners, a company executive said on Tuesday.

“African countries have not been in a reasonable bargaining position,” AU Agriculture Commissioner Rhoda Peace Tumusiime told Reuters in an interview at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. “The pace of the trend was very fast and they didn’t envisage that there should be benefits to the community.”

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

The issue of food security is getting higher on Riyadh’s priority list.

"Pakistan has finalised plans to offer ownership of agricultural lands to investors for farming, and is targeting investors from the UAE and other Gulf countries to help with their own food resources."

The Federal Minister of Investment in Pakistan, Waqar Ahmed Khan, said this week that the government plans to sell or lease 1 million acres of farmland to foreign investors, primarily from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Although the news has yet to gain much coverage, if carried out it could punctuate growing unrest and frustration, given Pakistan’s limited amount of arable land and population of more than 170 million.

The debate over foreign investment is set to expand from the mining industry to agriculture as overseas investors pour billions of dollars into Australian rural properties considered by some to be strategic national assets.

A cash-strapped Pakistani government plans to sell or rent one million acre land to foreign countries for agricultural purposes in a bid to underpin the country’s troubled economy. “A complete legal cover will be provided to the investors so that even in case of the change of government, they should not be affected.”

Pakistan is offering one million acres of farmland, protected by a special security force, for lease or sale to countries seeking to secure their food supplies, an official from the ministry of finance said on Monday.