"Ce qu’il faut absolument éviter, c’est la création de nouvelles dépendances à long terme et, surtout, l’épuisement des sols acquis par ces firmes qui pratiquent une agriculture intensive non durable." Entretien avec Olivier de Schutter.

The emergence of the farmland asset class is not without pitfalls with the provision of food always highly political and a tentative global economic recovery potentially threatened by the H1N1 flu pandemic, fund managers said.

We already see the Chinese interest in buying land in Latin America to manage a production here and, little by little, take hold of shipment logistics to China. This is both dangerous and counterproductive for Latin Americans.

The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir told the African Union summit in Libya that Sudan is willing to put its resources at the disposal of the continent.

The problems of securing for women the right to land tenure require more effort and nuanced attentiveness than is likely to happen in the face of a juggernaut of efforts to outsource food production by countries like Saudi Arabia and for bio-fuel production for countries like South Korea.

Rabobank announces that more than 90 investment funds have emerged that are investing directly in overseas farmland.

In addition to being a key player in the Saudi poultry business, Hadco produces olives, wheat, dates and grass fodder. Almarai has its own cattle farms.

Asian nations want to secure their energy needs, while Gulf Arab states are targeting investments in farmland to secure their food supply.

Will Malaysia be emulating other nations by looking abroad to plant staple crops like rice, or rear cows, goats, chicken and fish to secure a sustainable food supply?

David Hallam explains how international investments in agriculture can be good news if the objectives of land purchasers are reconciled with the investment needs of developing countries.

The water industry and agriculture are emerging as major new asset classes for Islamic financial institutions, especially in the field of sustainable investments.

India, once the colonial jewel of Britain's empire, has been accused of 'neo-colonialism' in Africa where its business people have joined a race with China, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to buy up agricultural estates and take advantage of cheap labour.