China

"It appears that offering our lands to foreign investors has always figured in the official agenda of Arroyo’s numerous state visits to other countries since assuming office, presumably in line with her "2 million hectares agribusiness development program," Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano of the Philippines said

La crisis del fósforo (clave para la vida), un grave y nuevo reto para la Humanidad. Respuestas capitalistas a la decadencia de la agricultura mundial y alternativas proletarias. Eslóganes.

Resource-hungry China has so far passed over investing in high-priced farmlands of South America in favor of Africa, with its less developed commodities markets, greater need for financing and open labor laws.

The terms of farmland deals are hardly made public. Although a theoretical possibility exists in a few cases for some transfer of technology for agricultural development, risk also exists to peasant farmers who cannot compete with well-resourced commercial farms. Take, for instance, the case of barley and oilseeds producers in Ethiopia.

"Nous n’allons ni acheter, ni louer, ni acquérir des terres africaines pour produire des aliments afin de satisfaire nos propres besoins,’’ l’envoyé extraordinaire du gouvernement chinois, l’ambassadeur Liu Guijin, a réaffirmé, vendredi à Dakar

Because of the political sensitivity of the modern-day land grab, it is often only the country's head of state who knows the details. Der Spiegel investigates.

"The government has verified and delineated 1.6 million hectares of virgin land suitable for large-scale commercial farming in different parts of the country," Esayas Kebede, Director of the recently formed Agricultural Investment Support told Reuters.

The Lao government says it's determined to improve the lives of its people by attracting foreign money. But in a country where simply putting food on the table is a daily challenge for many, their foreign investment may hinder more than help.

If the host state and foreign investors act in conformity with these suggestions, they will maximise the prospects that any large-scale land transaction benefits all stakeholders and minimise the chances of concluding harmful deals.

Professeur de géographie politique et du développement à l’université Bordeaux-III et spécialiste des questions foncières en Afrique, Christian Bouquet nous livre sa réflexion sur l’évolution de ce phénomène inquiétant.

A South Korean provincial government has leased a major plot of farmland in Mindoro to grow corn

As for the Chinese delegation and those of them who had the chance to state their minds one did not get the impression at all as regards purchase of land