More important is for Africa to realise its own potential for food production, which would in the long-term negate the need for these deals.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) wants to create exclusive economic zones for agribusiness that would take into consideration the nuances of food production and an expanded set of incentives for locators.

“We have finalised plans for the corporate farming project and we have the capabilities to meet the food requirements of the GCC countries," said Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan, Investment Minister of Pakistan. “They will be able to export 50 per cent of the crop while the 50 per cent would be sold in Pakistan,” adding that 6.65 million acres of land for agriculture is available in Pakistan.

Sudan is trying to diversify and strengthen its economy to make up for plummeting oil revenues. Ministers have been wooing agricultural investors, particularly from the Arab world.

On May 5, the Wilson Center hosted a half-day conference that considered the implications for investors, host countries, and food security, highlighting case studies from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the former Soviet Union.

Several Arab investors visited this city last week in a mission to look for potential agriculture business in Mindanao where they can pour their investments.

Aimed at public and private market investors, this conference will explore opportunities for global investments in agricultural lands, commodities and infrastructure in North and South America, Australia, China, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

The food crisis in African states will not be solved by investment to spur agricultural production because the problem is not food output but poverty that is making food unaffordable for urban Africans.

Mohammed Mbwana, who farms in the Tana River delta area and is an official of a local NGO, said the Qatar agreement would displace thousands of locals. At least 150,000 families in farming and pastoralist communities depend on the land in question, said to be part of Kenya’s biggest wetland.

The fact that President Jakaya Kikwete accepted an invitation to Saudi Arabia recently to discuss the possibility of farmland allocation is important, as it means that Tanzania is attentive to the proposal.

Sovereignty trumps contractual obligations every time. If the African countries that are leasing their land fall into difficulties in feeding their own populations, as they are likely to do if world grain prices rise sharply, the first resource they will turn to is the foreign plantations on their territory.

THESE days, as we follow the struggle against the Taliban in the northwest, we can be forgiven for missing other important news. For instance, I had filed away a report on plans to lease large chunks of agricultural land in Punjab and Sindh to overseas investors in the back of my mind, planning to write about it later. When I ran a Google search on the subject, however, I realised the enormity of the scam.When I ran a Google search

A number of African countries are inviting South African farmers to come over to their countries and ply their trade, and Libya is included.

The Philippine government has invited visiting investors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to invest in the halal food industry, said Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap. "They have the fund...we have to find a way to convince them to invest in the Philippines," he said.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said corporate executives representing the big agricultural businesses in Saudi Arabia have raised concerns about the Philippine agrarian reform and limiting foreign land ownership as they indicated interest in acquiring tracts of plantation land and poultry farms.