Kuwait China Investment Co (KCIC), a firm linked to the Gulf Arab state's sovereign wealth fund, is eyeing investments in Asia's agriculture sector, the company's managing director said on Wednesday.
"The government has verified and delineated 1.6 million hectares of virgin land suitable for large-scale commercial farming in different parts of the country," Esayas Kebede, Director of the recently formed Agricultural Investment Support told Reuters.
Full text of the agreement for a rubber and oil palm concession between Liberia and Malaysia's Sime Darby, covering 311,187 ha.
These investments in some of the most productive agricultural land threaten to further undermine food security and sustainable rural economic development in the developing world.
The land grab is a soft option that entails grave long-term consequences for the countries that sell their land, as commercial exploitation will leave its disastrous trails adding to global warming, leaving them to pick up the tabs later.
The Lao government says it's determined to improve the lives of its people by attracting foreign money. But in a country where simply putting food on the table is a daily challenge for many, their foreign investment may hinder more than help.
Thai farmers were justified when they told television news they did not agree with the proposal of letting the Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) start its own farms in Thailand.
One of the objectives of the caravan is to send the Asian peasants’ strong message against global land grabbing and inspire other peasants worldwide.
If the host state and foreign investors act in conformity with these suggestions, they will maximise the prospects that any large-scale land transaction benefits all stakeholders and minimise the chances of concluding harmful deals.
"The big fear I have and which many people have is that these foreign investments shall increase the gap between the happy few large-scale producers who will benefit and the vast majority of small-scale producers who will be further marginalized," says Olivier de Schutter
While everyone from the Rothschild’s – via the Agrifirma Brazil fund, run with Jim Slater – through to Nicola Horlick and UBS are snapping up farmland in Brazil, I’m fascinated by another niche: Canada and New Zealand.
This paper takes stock of current understandings of, and responses to, commercial pressures on land by organisations within and beyond ILC’s membership.
