"Initially we asked the Africans how much they wanted in rent. They said it's free, just share the food with us. We made a deal that we only pay $1 per year per acre in rent. At the start we didn't promote the idea because we didn't want people to say we were grabbing land."

"Depuis quelques mois, nous observons un regain d'intérêt pour nos terres, des acheteurs s'emparent de très grandes surfaces acquises avec des facilités dérangeantes, dans la zone du lac de Guiers, par exemple", affirme Ndiogou Fall, sénégalais et président exécutif de la Roppa

L'Etat cède 880000 hectares de terre arable pour 670 millions d'euros. Publiée mi-août par le Financial Times, l'annonce du gouvernement soudanais n'est plus vraiment une nouveauté. Comme d'autres avant lui, le pays est prêt à céder un territoire presque aussi grand que l'Ile-de-France à des investisseurs étrangers trop contents de s'exécuter.

Saudi Arabia's new ambassador to Brazilian capital Brasília, Mohamad Amin Ali Kurdi, wants to promote the flow of investments between his country and Brazil. The ambassador even proposed the idea of establishment of an agribusiness multinational with Saudi investment, Brazilian know-how and land and possible future participation by companies in other countries.

Al Qudra Holding, the Abu Dhabi-based investment company, plans to acquire roughly 400,000 hectares of land in the Middle East, East Africa and Far East by the end of the first quarter of next year in a major expansion of its agricultural operations.

Oil-giant Saudi Arabia plans to set up a new investment fund to buy agricultural land overseas in an effort to meet rising food demand in the Middle East’s largest economy, a Saudi official said.

8In a bid to ensure its long-term food security, Bahrain is negotiating a series of import agreements and investing in farmland in South East Asia.

Three of the Gulf's biggest financial house has teamed up to launch three investment vehicles worth $10 billion (Dh36.7bn). The 'strategic' alliance between Gulf Finance House, Ithmaar Bank and Abu Dhabi Investment House covers the infrastructure, agricultural and hospitality sectors and are expected to bring return on investments in 18 months. The agricultural fund is considering Australia, China, the Philippies, India and North African countries for food production and livestock.

“We are investing in land in Sudan, Pakistan and Egypt to secure food supplies without being at the mercy of market fluctuations,” Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd, Minister of Environment and Water, said at a conference in Dubai yesterday.

Quelque 95 tonnes de graines de sésame transportées par un avion charter sont arrivées samedi à l'aéroport Léopold Sédar Senghor de Dakar pour les besoins d'un projet de partenariat entre un investisseur privé chinois et l'Etat du Sénégal

Given its unsuitable climate for agricultural development, the UAE must look abroad if it is to significantly expand its agricultural output. Pakistan could be the perfect partner.

Corporate ownership of world food sources may be shifting into high gear. Goldman Sachs, the private equity investment bank of the ultra wealthy and powerful, has announced that it's in the race to scoop up assets related to food production.

While Saudi Arabia sets up its first sovereign wealth fund, ordinary Saudis are more preoccupied with the rising price of food. This is prompting the Saudi government to consider a new direction for foreign investment: buying farms in the poorer parts of the world.

Japan's big trading houses, which have enjoyed bumper years from betting on iron ore and metals, are getting into the food market, aiming to tap voracious demand in China and emerging economies.

Alarmed by exporting countries’ trade restrictions, importing countries have realised that their dependence on the international food market makes them vulnerable not only to an abrupt surge in prices but, more crucially, to an interruption in supplies.