Foreign ownership of watersheds or agricultural land plays into the perennial food security fears that are common in a nation forced to import about 60 per cent of its food.

Agroton, one of Ukraine's largest agricultural companies, plans to use the IPO money to boost its land bank. Ukraine, a major global exporter of grain, plans to introduce private land ownership this year.

"Will the Chinese government purchase goods in China to be used on their farmland in Africa? We have seen a few tenders, yes, definitely. Is this becoming a trend? Most likely, and this will be a nice add-on to the business case that we are running here."

The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch shows how land grabbing aggravates hunger in Africa, Asia and Latin America by leading to eviction of peasant communities from their main source of livelihood.

Joining ABN from Lagos on the implications of the World Bank report's findings is Dennis Aliga, CEO of DMA Capital Group.

An American university is buying a New Zealand dairy farm for more than $28 million as officials and would-be overseas investors get ready for new rules.

New Zealand's Federated Farmers is welcoming the purchase of a big slice of farmland in central Otago by Harvard University for $34.1 million.

Richard Fyers, a commercial lawyer with the NZ China Trade Association, writes about the fuss made over land sales to foreigners.

The key highlights of the forum will focus on the rising pros­pects in the global agricultural busi­ness, land utilisation and acquisition policies.

The two months we spent in the Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia, surveying smallholders and profiling large-scale commercial farms, left us with a different impression.

We support the position adopted by the Ha Nim indigenous people and their sympathisers who reject the MIFEE project on their land because it poses a threat to the right to life of the local communities and urge the Indonesian state – SBY – to repeal the MoU about MIFEE.

Please support our demands that the Norwegian Government stops import of commodities from grabbed land, takes initiativ to international cooperation to control investment deals in the agricultural sector, and make sure that Norwegian investments never happens at the expence of peoples food security or participation.