The coming of foreign farm investors…what lessons for Nigeria ?
- Business Day
- 08 June 2009
It is not clear whether a strategy is in place to ensure that part of the food produced by the rich food importers farms will be sold locally.
It is not clear whether a strategy is in place to ensure that part of the food produced by the rich food importers farms will be sold locally.
The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation is planning to set up model farms in Uganda. So far, one site of 200 hectares suitable for wheat growing has already been identified at Labora, Koro sub-county in Gulu district.
The region continues to have great market potential as a number of Thai rice companies have offices there and some have been approached by local governments to invest there in milling, processing and even growing rice.
The UN’s food security expert, Olivier de Schutter, has called for a “code of conduct” to regulate the purchase of swathes of farmland across Africa, Asia and Latin America by Gulf states and private companies pursuing agribusiness.
Capital Rice and Asia Golden Rice, both in Thailand, recently formed a business alliance with the Stallion Group, Nigeria's largest conglomerate, to supply rice to this major African market. The next step is to export rice-planting know-how and invest in Nigerian farmland.
With Gulf countries and businesses demonstrating a newfound disposition for direct farm investment to cater for their local agro commodity needs, Sub-Saharan Africa has been identified as a source of growing and/or producing their imported food. Nigeria’s position in the matrix cannot be overemphasized.
La FAO s’apprête à sortir ces jours-ci un mode d’emploi sur la bonne gouvernance foncière. Histoire que le nouveau droit foncier de Madagascar ne soit pas défini par Daewoo Logistics. Et que les petits paysans du Sud participent enfin au débat
Agribusiness in the Middle East countries hold out investment opportunities worth $3bn for Nigeria yearly.
“We have a land fund in South America, we have in Ukraine. Now we are developing one in Africa. We need to acquire land for farming,” says Guy de Montule, Louis Dreyfus’ chief executive officer for Middle East and Africa
When the Kwara State Government invited the displaced Zimbabwean farmers to the state for the Tsonga farming project, many thought it was another white elephant exercise.
The Federal Government, yesterday, in Abuja, signed a $16 billion development cooperation agreement which covers real estate, agriculture, power, oil and gas, with the Dubai World Corporation in the United Arab Emirates.
Lonrho Agriculture will develop 25,000 hectares of agricultural projects in the Provinces of Uige, Zaire and Bengo in Angola.