In Myanmar, the issue of land-grabbing has been raised by land rights groups urging changes to two land laws currently before parliament: the Farmland Bill and Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Bill.
The government will soon table a Contract Farming Bill in parliament, seeking to enact a law to protect smallholder farmers and rural communities against exploitation by private investors that acquire lands.
Two MIDROC-affiliated companies, largely owned by the Saudi tycoon Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi, are Saudi Star Agricultural Plc and Horizon Plantations Plc. Both offered tens of millions of Birr to acquire state-owned plantations last week.
Al-Amoudi’s Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc, which is primarily growing rice to export to Saudi Arabia, has leased 10,000 hectares in Gambella region and is in the “process of leasing an additional 290,000 hectares”.
The common denominator throughout the South, write Najma Sadeque, is that customary laws or rights of usage are no longer recognised, and constitutions do not guarantee protection of community lands
More than 30,000 hectares of land in Nampula province will be handed over to Vietnam’s agricultural investors, according to Mozambique News Agency.
Australian business council wants Qatar to invest more in food production in Australia, similar to what Qatar's Hassad Foods is pursuing.
Foreign companies from Korea, Qatar, US, UK and China are "secretly" buying up large chunks of NSW farmland by establishing shelf companies, trust funds, and extended settlements to avoid scrutiny.
So is it a land grab or a development opportunity? Is land grabbing actually good for Africa? BBC Africa Debate discusses the issue in Freetown in Sierra Leone.
Recently, the Federal Government of Nigeria signed a Joint Venture Agreement on Commercial Rice farming with Calvin Burgess, owner and principal promoter of the Oklahoma-based Dominion Farms Limited.
The Government of Singapore Investment Corp, one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds, has taken a 5 percent stake in commodities trader and farmland owner Bunge Ltd.
“I wouldn’t define it as land grabbing. We exploit the economic opportunities which came about after the food price shock of 2007,” says Birinder Singh, the manager of Karuturi Agro Products. BBC slideshow.
