farmlandgrab.org | Latest posts

Japfa to sell stake in China dairy business to Meiji for $254m
- Foodbev
- 17 April 2020
Japfa’s AustAsia operates seven farms in China with roughly 80,000 cows and is a major supplier of raw milk to Meiji’s dairy business.
How the present day land-grabbing in Africa is forcing thousands to migrate to Europe
- The Voice
- 16 April 2020
In an excerpt from his new book Why We Are Coming, author Yasin Kakande lays bare the truth about the Western exploitation of Africa that is the root cause of Africans choosing to leave their homelands.
Commercial farms’ domino effect on banks
- Addis Fortune
- 16 April 2020
The Development Bank of Ethiopia suspending loans for commercial farms because of the failure of numerous farms in Gambella, where the Bank was even tricked into giving two loans for a single agriculture project.
For Brazilian agribusiness, leaving the Amazon forested is ‘a problem’
- Mongabay
- 16 April 2020
Agribusiness proponents in the Brazilian states of Rondônia, Acre and Amazonas plan to create a joint agricultural area, Amacro, inspired by the multi-state Matopiba region that is now the country’s grain-growing heartland.
L’Ukraine enclenche la libéralisation de son marché foncier
- Vatican News
- 16 April 2020
Alexandra Goujon, politologue spécialiste de l’Ukraine à Sciences Po, décrypte les modalités et les conséquences de cette libéralisation des terres agricoles à venir.
Some 60% of Ukrainians not support land sale law, 46% against cooperation with IMF – social survey
- Interfax
- 15 April 2020
If a national referendum on the sale of agricultural land was held in the next week, 74% would vote against the sale of land as required by the IMF, Ukranian researchers show
Cameroun : un projet de concession de 150 000 hectares de forêt rencontre l’opposition de Greenpeace et des populations
- Agence Ecofin
- 15 April 2020
Les 150 000 ha seront scindés en deux concessions voisines de la plantation d’huile de palme de l’agro-industriel Greenfil Palm Plantation Ltd qui, avec une assistance technique française et malaisienne, a défriché plus de 1700 ha depuis 2017.
Uganda: Leaders block sacking of 400 rice farm employees
- The Monitor
- 15 April 2020
Kalungu leaders have blocked a move by the proprietors of Lukaya Natural Rice Farm to sack 412 casual workers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Land conflicts escalate with spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia
- Mongabay
- 15 April 2020
On March 21, security personnel from the palm oil firm PT Artha Prigel clashed with farmers in Lahat district, in South Sumatra province. Two farmers were killed in the fighting, the latest flare-up in a conflict that goes back nearly three decades. Locals accuse the company — a subsidiary of the Sawit Mas Group, which supplies oleochemicals to Procter & Gamble — of stealing their land. Activists have denounced the escalation in the conflicts, saying businesses shouldn’t be taking advantage of the country’s focus on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic to further their own — often illegal — interests.
Coronavirus may help spur aquaculture investments in Africa
- Undercurrent News
- 14 April 2020
IDH is working with FMO, the Dutch development bank -- which last year granted Zambian fully integrated tilapia operation Yalelo a $10.5 million senior secured loan facility -- to draw up guidelines for investing in African aquaculture.
Ukraine's Rada fails to pass all draft resolutions blocking farmland bill
- UNIAN
- 14 April 2020
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has failed to pass any of the draft resolutions submitted by lawmakers who propose that the parliament's previous decision to adopt the bill on the launch of the farmland market be canceled and its signing be blocked.
En Roumanie, une agriculture de subsistance aux côtés des agroholdings
- Avenir Agricole
- 10 April 2020
Les agroholdings sont financées par des capitaux privés étrangers ou des fonds d’investissement. “Ils travaillent 1 000 ha comme un seul.”
AAM's diversified agriculture fund acquires Terrick Station as cornerstone asset
- GAI
- 09 April 2020
The Australian fund has confirmed that it has completed an off-market deal to acquire Terrick Terrick, a 55,000-hectare property from long-time owners Russel Pearson and the Pearson family, for an undisclosed amount.
Bucolic botch: Why big farms flopped in Ethiopia
- Economist
- 09 April 2020
Too few investors knew the land; too many deals were crooked. Yet officials hint that the government wants to promote huge farms once more, this time by expanding wheat production to boost food security.
« La Chine reste un acteur discret dans l’agriculture africaine malgré les nombreuses polémiques » (Fred Gale)
- Agence Ecofin
- 08 April 2020
« Les acquisitions foncières (de la Chine) ne sont pas aussi immenses que l’attention qui leur est consacrée. »