The company will also seek to obtain land concessions for additional rice cultivation in the districts of Soukhouma and Sanasomboun.

A forum of Saudi agricultural investors at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry will on Sunday discuss the progress of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s Initiative for Saudi Agricultural Investment Abroad.

There is "a wall of money" looking for a home in agricultural investments worldwide, say managers for BlackRock's London-based World Agriculture Fund.

An independent investigation has shown that First Resources Ltd failed to obtain proper consent from local communities before clearing rainforests for plantations in Indonesian Borneo, an Indonesian indigenous rights group reported last week.

Sudanese police used tear gas and batons to break up a protest of more than 250 people on Friday demanding that the government revoke the sale of farming land to Gulf Arab investors

Government structures across West and Central Africa are now “in a bind and divided, with some ministries choosing to hand over natural resources to agribusinesses and mining, and others seeking to protect the rights of their citizens,” according to Andy White, coordinator of RRI

Green Scenery calculates that 60% of the total area in Pujehun district is already being, or could soon be converted for large-scale industrial agriculture, primarily for oil palm plantations.

Authorities have attributed the growth of a saline lake to irrigation runoff, including that from a company bought this year from the government by Horizon Plantations, a venture majority owned by Mohamed al- Amoudi, the largest single investor in Ethiopia.

The briefing suggests a series of questions for asset owners to pose when considering a land investment either directly or via a shareholding to enable them to make an informed risk assessment.

Ethiopians stormed the 17th Street Office complex of the World Bank in Washington DC, protesting the bank’s alleged support for land grab and ethnic cleansing by President Girma Wolde-Giorgis

With the large and sometimes overexposed attention for land grabbing in Africa, good examples tend to be forgotten

Friends of the Earth is running an ethical pension campaign to encourage investors to ask their providers if they invest in land grabbing activities. Emma Websdale spoke with campaigner Kirtana Chandrasekaran to discuss why it is such an important issue.