Cambodia's sugar rush leaves farmers feeling bitter at 'land grab'
- Guardian
- 09 July 2013
Villagers from Koh Kong, Cambodia claim they are losing their livelihoods to plantations that supply Tate & Lyle
Villagers from Koh Kong, Cambodia claim they are losing their livelihoods to plantations that supply Tate & Lyle
Univanich Palm Oil, one of the Thailand's leading palm-oil producers and its largest exporter of crude palm oil, is expanding into Asean with its first investment in the Philippines.
There's been considerable disquiet over the presence of foreign buyers in the farmland market place, but the stats on the extent of foreign ownership and the emerging trends are far from clear.
Thailand remains a target for foreigners interested not only in securing industrial raw materials and food supplies but also in obtaining a higher rate of return on their investment.
Philippines company will contribute its hybrid rice varieties to the venture while the Myanmar partner will provide the land for production and the Thai partner will handle global marketing.
Vruchtbaar en goedkoop land is gewild. In Afrika jagen zakenlui op dit 'groene goud'. Trouw schreef er een serie over. Ook in de Mekong-regio in Zuidoost-Aziëwordt land van bewoners afgepakt, vooral voor de rubberproductie. Foute zaak, zeggen mensenrechtenclubs. Maar de autoriteiten zijn blij met de investeerders.
Thailand's Department of Special Investigation chief Tarit Pengdith said his department had not found any instances of foreigners owning farms or growing rice via nominees. Farming is forbidden to foreigners under the Foreign Business Act.
An EU scheme to boost trade with developing nations is fueling land grabs in Cambodia, activists say, with thousands evicted from their property to make way for a booming sugar industry.
Après deux ans de pourparlers avec Tate and Lyle Sugars, qui importe le sucre cambodgien en Europe, les communautés appellent au boycott du sucre de la marque la plus ancienne au monde.
Singaporean and other foreign traders are taking advantage of a loophole in Thai laws to purchase land suitable for paddy fields and starting up rice-trading houses in Thailand.
Concerns about land grabbing stem from a desire to hold the government accountable when the drive to make Thailand the Kitchen of the World ends up destroying ecological systems, small farmers' livelihoods, and our food security.
The Thai company is seeking to acquire four far north Queensland sugar mills, more than 6,000 hectares of agricultural land and other infrastructure assets owned by MSF Sugar
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