farmlandgrab.org | Saudi Arabia

Foreign investors may get legal cover
- The News (Pakistan)
- 20 December 2008
The Pakistan government is all set to provide legal cover through parliament to protect foreign investors and their investment in all sectors particularly agriculture. “We are in talks with investors from Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, for investment in corporate farming. Investors will be ensured repatriation of 100 per cent crop yield to their countries even in case Pakistan faces food deficit,” Federal Investment Minister Waqar Ahmad Khan said.
Arabs to buy WA land?
- Farm Weekly
- 17 December 2008
Agriculture Department denies a recent WA trade delegation visit to several Middle Eastern countries was to promote selling WA agricultural land for grain and livestock.
Mitsui May Boost Farm Investment Overseas on Demand
- Bloomberg
- 16 December 2008
Mitsui & Co., Japan's second-largest trading company, may increase investment in farming overseas to secure food supplies as competition from China, the biggest grain consumer, intensifies. The company is seeking new targets after taking a 39.35 percent stake in Multigrain AG, which produces soybeans in Brazil, the world's second-largest grower.
Minister backs Arab farm deals
- The West
- 16 December 2008
Agriculture Minister Terry Redman says Western Australia should embrace moves by Arab interests in the Middle East to buy prime Wheatbelt farmland to secure their future food supplies. Two groups from the Middle East are due to visit the State early next year as they consider investments of up to $1 billion in cropping, sheep and dairy production in WA.
Ethiopia: Can foreign-owned farms solve food crisis?
- IPS
- 13 December 2008
The Ethiopian government’s ambitious target of harvesting 28 million tonnes of cereals in the first three quarters of the 2007/2008 budget year has failed. Authorities seem determined to change this situation by leasing huge chunks of land to other sovereign states for mechanised farming.
Mideast nations eye $1bln Australian cropland
- Reuters
- 12 December 2008
"They're not talking about $2 or $3 million, they're talking about $20 million to up to $1 billion of investment in big projects," Peter Metcalfe, the director of grain industry development for Western Australia, said in an interview.
Gulf nations eye farmland in Australia
- Reuters
- 12 December 2008
Middle Eastern countries flush with oil funds want to invest up to $1bn in Australian farmland as they extend a drive for food security to the world’s second-largest wheat exporter, a grains official said yesterday.
Binladin Group may invest $4.3 b on rice in Papua
- The Jakarta Post
- 08 December 2008
Saudi-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.
Saudi Investor Finalizing Ethiopian Sugar Project, Walta Says
- New Scientist
- 04 December 2008
Saudi billionaire Mohammed Al Amoudi is finalizing plans for a $300 million sugar plantation in northwestern Ethiopia, the Walta Information Center reported.
Rich countries carry out '21st century land grab'
- New Scientist
- 04 December 2008
Nomadic herders, rarely a priority for governments, are being dispossessed by bioethanol developments in Kenya, says Michael Taylor of the International Land Coalition (ILC), and they also depend on the “unused” land that Madagascar offered Daewoo.
La grande braderie des terres africaines
- Tribune de Geneve
- 25 November 2008
La Corée du Sud vient de louer la moitié des terres cultivables de Madagascar. Sur le continent noir, ce type de transaction se multiplie.
NPC to invest $300m in fish farming
- Emirates Business 24/7
- 25 November 2008
Saudi-based National Prawn Company (NPC), the world’s largest integrated shrimp producer, is planning an initial investment of $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) to start large-scale fish production in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The aim is to farm king fish, cobia, barramundi, mahi and milk fish using aquaculture installations on waste coastal desert land.