Dear friends and colleagues,

Farmlandgrab.org weekly, the email service, will take a break until mid-August. The farmlandgrab.org website and its RSS feed will continue to be updated during this period, however.

Please note that we have recently uploaded a number of contracts, including the Mali-Libya deal covering 100,000 ha in the Office du Niger, to the site. They are all available here: http://farmlandgrab.org/tag/contracts

Gleaner | 14-Jul-2010 Sugar rush – Chinese firm close to acquiring state-owned factories The Chinese firm COMPLANT will purchase the Jamaican government's remaining sugar assets and lease 18,000 ha of the island's cane land for 50-75 years.

Telegraph | 14-Jul-2010 Brazil’s government plans to restrict foreign land ownership According to the Brazilian Agrarian Development industry, between 2002 and 2008 foreign nationals spent $2.43 billion on land investment in Brazil.

NBR | 14-Jul-2010 Harawira wants to outlaw foreign ownership Maori party maverick MP Hone Harawira wants to ban the sale of New Zealand land to foreigners.

Frontline | 13-Jul-2010 New Zealand sleeps while land sells Most other countries have much tighter controls over foreign investment than New Zealand.

The Namibian | 13-Jul-2010 ‘Land grabs’ in Namibia: Blessing or curse? Namibia has not been spared in the proliferating acquisition of agricultural land in developing countries by multi-national agricultural corporations, popularly referred to as ‘land grabbing’.

GRAIN | 13-Jul-2010 Voices from the London International Oromo Workshop Interviews about the current land grab in the Oromia and Gambela regions with some of the presenters at the London workshop.

Financial Express | 12-Jul-2010 It’s not such a long way to Africa Jagjit Singh Hara, a farmer in Jalandhar, has been getting offers from Congo, Namibia and Nigeria to take land on lease and start cultivation.

Islands Business | 12-Jul-2010 Big push from foreign investors into PNG "We have Indonesians and Malaysians coming in and saying we want 100,000 hectares to make PNG a rice producing country," says PNG’s Deputy Prime Minister Sir Puka Temu

Radio Australia | 12-Jul-2010 Food shortages puts rural Asia at risk of international exploitation The Asian Development Bank is warning the region's rural sector could be expoited by international investors as concerns about global food and fuel security intensify.

Sikh Sangat News | 11-Jul-2010 Punjab farmers take up Ethiopian offer A group of farmers from Punjab are planning to take 1 lakh hectare land on lease in the African nation of Ethiopia for cultivation.

The National | 11-Jul-2010 The GCC stocks the larder against future food crisis The GCC states are rapidly pursuing contracts for the purchase of land from eastern Africa to Vietnam to guarantee ample food supplies

ASO | 10-Jul-2010 Produire du riz ou investir dans la région de Gambela : la vidéo de propagande du gouvernement éthiopien La voix de l’Anywaa Survival Organisation s’est élevée contre la politique de cession des terres adoptée par le gouvernement éthiopien.

ASO | 10-Jul-2010 Rice Production or Investment in Gambela region, Ethiopian government’s propaganda video Anywaa Survival Organisation's critique of the Ethiopian government's video presentation of rice land grab in the Gambela region.

NZ Herald | 10-Jul-2010 For better or worse: foreign ownership At least 24 countries have been given approval to invest in New Zealand's agricultural sector, covering 154,855ha and a wide range of sectors from sheep farming to viticulture

Reuters | 09-Jul-2010 SAfrica farmers get land offers in Africa A South African farmers group said on Friday it had received fresh offers from African states, including Sudan and Mozambique, to invest in agriculture to grow export crops and some of the deals will be concluded soon.

Times of India | 09-Jul-2010 The new shifting agriculture: Shopping for fields overseas Acquiring land elsewhere for cultivation impoverishes farmers there and degrades soil

J'accuse | 09-Jul-2010 Faut-il ouvrir les terres africaines aux investisseurs agricoles étrangers ? Débat entre deux économistes africains, James Shikwati, directeur de l’Inter Region Network au Kenya, qui publie AfricanExecutive.com et Franklin Cudjoe, directeur du think tank IMANI au Ghana et rédacteur d’AfricanLiberty.org, autour de la question de savoir si les terres africaines doivent être ouvertes à des baux pour être cultivées par des investisseurs étrangers.

Challenges.fr | 08-Jul-2010 A la poursuite de l’or vert "Pour nos investisseurs de la première heure, la plus-value dégagée est supérieur à 40%," précise Olivier Combastet.

Democracy Now! | 08-Jul-2010 A Debate on Geoengineering: Vandana Shiva vs. Gwynne Dyer "The land rights of the poor defenseless indigenous person is the biggest peace initiative of today and it’s the biggest climate issue of today," says Vandana Shiva