Egypt

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.

The Egyptian government has been allocated up to 2 million acres of land in Uganda to grow wheat and corn for its domestic market

Saudi agricultural company Tabuk Agricultural Development Co has started preparations to invest in food production abroad, driving up its stock.

CNN's John Defterios takes a look at how Middle Eastern countries are scouring the globe for farmland.

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.

Le gouvernement devrait lancer, en juin prochain, des appels d'offres pour la vente de terres agricoles à des investisseurs locaux et étrangers, dans le cadre du projet d'une nouvelle zone agro-industrielle, a indiqué le chef de l'Autorité du développement industriel, Amr Assal.

Agricultural investment in Sudan by Arab countries looking to guarantee supplies of staples such as wheat for their people will account for up to 50 percent of all investment in the country from 2010

Egypt may start selling farmland in tenders to foreign and local investors by June as part of a new agro-industrial zones project, the head of the country's Industrial Development Authority said.

A cash-strapped Pakistani government plans to sell or rent one million acre land to foreign countries for agricultural purposes in a bid to underpin the country’s troubled economy. “A complete legal cover will be provided to the investors so that even in case of the change of government, they should not be affected.”

Al Rajhi for International Investment will spend an estimated $400 million by 2011 to produce wheat and maize in Egypt and Sudan. The Saudi private firm is already farming 42,000 hectares of farmland in Egypt this year.

A consortium of Saudi agricultural companies is looking to invest 150 million riyals ($40 million) into food production in Africa, the Agriculture Ministry said on Sunday.