Egypt

Egypt's Beltone Private Equity and Sudan's Kenana Sugar Company have agreed to set up a firm to invest up to $1 billion in large-scale agriculture projects in both countries, Beltone said in a statement on Wednesday.

A private agricultural investment firm in Abu Dhabi plans a Dh925 million (US$251.8m) farmland deal in Egypt to grow wheat for the African nation’s domestic market.

The wheat farms in Sudan & Uganda are not Egypt’s first foray into overseas farming — the government operates a corn farm in Zambia, a rice farm in Niger, a vegetable farm in Tanzania and plans 14 more farms across Africa — but they are significant because they are among the first efforts to address wheat scarcity after the instability of 2008.

Janan, a UAE agricultural investment firm, will expand its farmland portfolio in a deal with Egyptian agricultural authorities next week.

A United Arab Emirates company will sign a deal with Egypt to cultivate 100,000 feddans, about 42,000 hectares, of land with wheat, corn and feed, the official news agency Mena reported on Tuesday.

By providing powerful agricultural equipment and technical assistance, the brand is participating in Saudi Firm Al-Rajhi International's US$400 Million project to grow corn and wheat in Africa's arid lands

I wonder how many other behind-the-scenes transactions are currently underway in the continent that will only be announced when the deals have been signed and perhaps money has exchanged hands.

Almarai Company, Saudi Arabia's biggest listed dairy firm, is studying more acquisition opportunities in Egypt after spending $115 million last month to buy an Egyptian company and its farmland

In the case of Uganda, Egypt has shown interest in acquiring 200 hectares for wheat production.

The Sekem Group, Egypt’s foremost producer and exporter of organic food to Europe and the US, is not a typical Egyptian enterprise.

Saudi-based Almarai has agreed to buy Egyptian firm Beyti for $115 million, allowing a new joint venture with Pepsico to set foot in the Arab world's most populous nation. The price tag includes a 75-hectare piece of land.

These arrangements are reminiscent of “banana republics” when many African countries served as plantations for European countries -- but even those did not come with such explicit restrictions and rigidities.