For private equity houses, pension funds and family offices, the sprawling farms of sub Saharan Africa are the new land of plenty.
Savills, the UK property consultancy, believes sub-Saharan Africa, in agriculture, is the Brazil of the 1970s but warns against investments in farms of over 5,000 ha because of land ownership sensitivities.
Savills international farmland market report for 2012
Farmland is "an obvious no-brainer choice for most pension funds," according to Savills director of residential research Yolande Barnes.
As the global financial downturn pushes investors into finding alternative business ventures, land investment has become an attractive proposition.
InvestAg Savills says world farmland markets are becoming increasingly accessible with new emerging markets opening up, creating new opportunities.
Some Danish farmland investors are quitting the UK after seeing land prices rise here and tumble at home over the past few years.