The Philippine government has identified 10,000 ha for the Bahrain banana project in Davao del Norte. It also awaits follow-up visits from Saudi Arabia to finalize a $238.6m deal the kingdom committed to invest in fruit, aquaculture and halal food production.

In Cambodia, an assessment of the impact of foreign farmland acquisitions has been hampered by a lack of data, including the total number of concessions awarded and an accurate set of GPS coordinates for each concession, the World Bank says.

Anywaa Survival Organisation would like to call upon indigenous people to resist this kind of land grabbing effort of the Ethiopian government, now acknowledged by a World Bank report

The World Bank report calls for global implementation of investment principles it drafted last year but notes that enforcement mechanisms do not exist.

Foreign purchases of agricultural land from Mozambique to Cambodia pose “significant risks” to the livelihoods of farmers in countries with “weak land governance,” the World Bank said in a report.

Around 45 million hectares of farmland deals were announced by the end of 2009, according to the Bank, with many of them providing little, if any, compensation to rural communities for the loss of land rights

The World Bank has backed the controversial practice of countries selling large tracts of agricultural land to overseas investors but is urging vendors to demand much more to increase their farming productivity and peoples’ livelihoods.

A new World Bank report says volatility in food prices has been a key factor behind a rising tide of large scale farmland purchases in the developing world, which can pose social and environment risks, if not well managed.

Indian companies are increasingly getting a foothold into South America, acquiring assets and land not just to get entry into its lucrative agricultural market but also to export commodities such as sugar, pulses and edible oils back to India.

HLH Agriculture is a Singaporean firm running 10,000 ha project in Cambodia to produce corn for export to Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand.

Abu Dhabi finalises scheme to purchase 29,400 hectares of land in Sudan

Michael Burry, the former hedge-fund manager who predicted the US housing market’s plunge, said he is investing in farmland. “I believe that agriculture land -- productive agricultural land with water on site -- will be very valuable in the future.”