Soaring food prices and lack of land have forced Mauritius, a net food importing country, to launch an ambitious initiative. The island state is starting to grow its food in other African states where land is lying fallow and labour is cheap.

Reports indicate the growing Euro-Arab-Asian interest to buy land in Africa for the food security of their home population, not Africa´s. However, seldom do these reports link the the appetite for farmland and energy investment on the continent with the current global economic crises.

Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice producer, plans to lease Cambodian farmland to grow rice in areas close to the border, officials said this week.

The 9th Brussels Development Briefing took place on 25th February 2009 in Brussels on “Land access and rural development: New challenges, new opportunities” and discussed the links between property rights, investment and the generation of economic opportunities in rural areas.

“[Middle East investors] wanted to go on a long-term lease of huge tracts of land and they will plant various crops and then enter into a contract to buy the produce because they need food to feed their people,” Trade Secretary Peter Favila told reporters.

The investments aim to meet Saudi Arabia’s increasing demand for fruits, vegetables and livestock products

"A path to agro-investments replacing international food aid"

Countries in the Gulf and in Africa can form mutually beneficial partnerships, with Africa supplying fertile arable land and the Gulf investing in technology, fertiliser and other agricultural inputs.

Over the past few years Laos has seen a surge of foreign investment in farms and plantations from neighboring countries keen to acquire rubber, sugar, and other agricultural commodities. Under this project, noncommercial details of land concession awards will be posted on a public website to improve transparency, while the commercial terms will be kept in a confidential database for monitoring compliance.

An estimated $238.6 million will be alloted by the Saudis to set up cash crop fruit plantations consisting of bananas, mangoes, and pineapples, an agriculture official said.

Depuis les émeutes qui ont fait plus de 110 morts fin janvier dans la Grande Ile, l’immeuble est gardé par une escouade de gendarmes et d’agents de sécurité. Nous sommes à Ivandry, dans le quartier d’affaires d’Antananarivo.

Saudi Arabia intends investing in farming in SA, the Saudi commerce and industry minister, Abdulla Ahmed Zeinal Ali Reza, told a joint economic commission on Monday.

Agribusiness in the Middle East countries hold out investment opportunities worth $3bn for Nigeria yearly.

Investors of State of Qatar have expressed their interest for making investments in agriculture and fisheries sectors in coastal areas of Balochistan, and they will soon set up their industrial, agricultural and trade units in the coastal areas of the province.

An Israeli delegation is set to visit Cambodia on March 16, hoping to forge agreements in agriculture and telecommunications