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Swiss Commodities Trader Expands Into Ethanol in Africa
- New York Times
- 15 June 2011
Jean Claude Gandur’s ethanol project in Sierra Leone comes at a sensitive time, with concerns being raised of exploitation of developing countries for resources.
Investments that will grow
- The Australian
- 15 June 2011
The global financial crisis may have hit tax-effective agribusiness schemes hard, but the prospects of the small group of companies that survived are anything but gloomy. "We're actually tapping into the new GFC, which is the global food crisis," says Wayne Overall, executive director of agribusiness managed investment scheme operator Almond Investors Limited
Iowan Rastetter leads Tanzanian ag project
- Des Moines Register
- 14 June 2011
Iowa agribusiness investor Bruce Rastetter is leading a project to turn as much as 800,000 acres [324,000 hectares] of land in the east African country of Tanzania into a massive grain-and-livestock operation.
Stop demonising foreign investors in agriculture, they’re not grabbing land
- Daily Nation
- 14 June 2011
It is true that many of the land deals are not structured to benefit local communities but it is wrong to claim that such investments will only help promote food exports at the expense of local needs, says Calestous Juma.
Swedes want Aussie farms
- Stock & Land
- 14 June 2011
The Swedish National Pension Fund is teaming up with US institutional investor TIAA-CREF to buy farmland in Australia.
Merauke estate ‘may threaten’ local stocks, livelihoods
- Jakarta Post
- 13 June 2011
Indonesia's food estate policy that has encouraged foreign investment in agriculture may not prevent potential food crises, activists say.
Hedge funds & African farms
- CBC
- 13 June 2011
The mad scramble for Africa. Critics say the financial firms that helped cause the global recession by inflating the real estate bubble -- are back. And this time they're being accused of pulling the same tricks with the world's food supply.
Zambeef will plough £34M into farmland
- Express
- 13 June 2011
The first Zambian company to float on Aim is planning to join the market in a listing which will help it raise £34million to buy 123,550 acres of prime farming land in Zambia.
New fear of civil war in Sudan
- IPS
- 13 June 2011
The escalation of violence around the north-south border in the run-up to Sudan’s big divide has sparked fears of a new civil war, but experts contend that the issue is more about land and water rather than oil.
Claims of African 'land grab' spark controversy
- CNN
- 12 June 2011
A new report published this week claims farmers in Africa are being driven off their traditional lands to make way for vast new industrial farming projects backed by European hedge funds seeking profits and foreign countries looking for cheap food.
Dominion Farms and food security in Kenya
- State of Affairs
- 10 June 2011
Most of the current and past conflicts over Dominion Farms’ development of the Yala swamp can be traced back to three structural problems: poor communication, cultural and social misunderstanding and political involvement.
Bangladeshi firms join Africa land rush
- Asia Times
- 10 June 2011
Nitol-Niloy Group and Bhati Bangla Agrotec of Bangladesh aim to invest an initial US$18 million to lease around 40,000 hectares of African land by the end of this year to grow foodstuff, most of which they will be obliged to sell in Bangladesh.