farmlandgrab.org

English

Asia's great land grab
- RFA
- 26 February 2014
Rising tension over land seizures is emerging as a critical issue in Asia. An RFA special report examines the changing dynamic of Asia’s Great Land Grab.
Ivory Coast eyes rice self-sufficiency with foreign firms' help
- Reuters
- 25 February 2014
The country is pinning its hopes on foreign companies, like trading giant Louis Dreyfus Commodities, with which it has signed agreements under which the firms will oversee rice output and marketing in 10 production zones.
Kings of concessions
- Phnom Penh Post
- 25 February 2014
Vietnam and China lead the pack of foreign companies granted economic land concessions in Cambodia for agro-industrial development by a wide margin.
Washington State Investment Board commits $1.2 billion to 4 alts funds
- PI
- 24 February 2014
A $50 million commitment was made to ACM Permanent Crops, a fund managed by Agriculture Capital Management that seeks “superior value creation from vertically integrated, sustainable farming.”
Union Agriculture Group acquires El Tejar operation in Uruguay
- PR Newswire
- 24 February 2014
The largest agricultural landholder in Uruguay has acquired the totality of the Uruguayan assets of international agriculture group El Tejar, the second largest agribusiness in the country.
Morocco says aims to quadruple farmland leases by 2020
- Reuters
- 24 February 2014
The target is 500,000 hectares by 2020, nearly four times the current level.
Paragon Resources PLC acquisition of interest in Paragon Volta Limited
- Wall Street Journal
- 24 February 2014
AIM-listed Paragon acquires 10% shareholding in Paragon Volta Limited, which is in the process of finalising a sublease over 5,000 ha close to the River Volta in Ghana from a much larger farm land estate.
Struggling Black Earth flags potatoes, cost cuts
- Agrimoney
- 21 February 2014
The Russian farm operator unveiled a loss of $18.1m for 2013, compared with earnings of $7.49m in 2012 – the only profitable year in the company's nine year history.
African Land Limited claiming victory but High Court judgement says otherwise
- Daily Mirror
- 21 February 2014
African Land Limited sold itself on the back of a promise that its rice farms in Sierra Leone could turn “a tidy profit of 15% a year”.
Tanzanian tea: a new frontier for big business
- WDM
- 21 February 2014
In return for corporate investment and aid, African states are reforming policies to make it easier for corporations to operate in their farming sectors.
Liberia: Sinoe complains GVL to Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil
- 21 February 2014
Citizens of Sinoe County have filed a complaint to the RSPO, an overall body of Palm Oil Worldwide, to stop Golden Veroleum Liberia's (GVL) ongoing operations of land clearing in their towns and villages.
Ghana hopes G8 New Alliance will end long history of food insecurity
- Guardian
- 18 February 2014
Critics of the initiative, however, fear the commercialisation of agriculture will not benefit small-scale farmers