Largest cut flower exporter Karuturi Global ventures into food business

The UN has proposed that countries set limits on the size of agriculture land sales to regulate the growing trend of so-called farmland grabs.

Company looks to tide over land-grabbing allegations, devastating flood for its $300mn project in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s government said it plans to clear land and provide infrastructure for investors to accelerate a commercial farming drive in the west of the country, amid opposition to the plans that left 19 people dead.

In Uganda it is the top leadership that initiates the land grabs for global land thieves. Whole communities are being displaced and scattered.

Two articles on large-scale land investment in Ethiopia examine the implications for smallholder farmers and pastoralists.

Despite decades of anti-colonial civilian resistance in Africa, a pernicious movement of land acquisition is overtaking the continent at a rate unprecedented since the conquests of the 19th Century.

Saudi Arabia is reducing grain production to reduce unsustainable use of groundwater and encouraging companies to lease tracts of land in Africa for growing, a new UN report on water says.

Companies investing in land in Africa and elsewhere need guidelines to ensure the human rights and dignity of local communities are protected

A government map leaked to International Rivers delineates sugar plantations with a total area of 2,450 square kilometers – almost the size of Luxembourg – that the Ethiopian government is seeking to develop in the sensitive ecosystems of the Lower Omo Valley.

In the run up to Rio+20, the United Nation Environment Programme Foresight Panel has flagged the adverse impact of the "new land rush" as a cause of concern.

Up to 90% of sub-Saharan Africa's land area is currently untitled. Without legal owners, this land falls to the state, which makes it easy to lease to foreign investors

IP-rich New Zealand is a logical partner for resource-rich Gulf states as a producer of food in places like Africa, says New Zealand's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"Galaxy of diplomats" in attendance for the inauguration of Mr Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, Managing Director of Karuturi Global Ltd, as an Honorary Consul of Ethiopia in Bangalore.

The scariest aspect of this unfolding phenomenon is that despite the foreseeable terrible consequences, the appetite among the rich countries to own a piece of this developing-country fertile land continues to grow, turning to an ugly competition.

A controversial resettlement program in Ethiopia is the latest battleground in the global race to secure prized farmland and water. Correspondent Cassandra Herrman reports as part of the Food for 9 Billion series, a NewsHour partnership with the Center for Investigative Reporting, Homelands Productions and Marketplace.

Two MIDROC-affiliated companies, largely owned by the Saudi tycoon Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi, are Saudi Star Agricultural Plc and Horizon Plantations Plc. Both offered tens of millions of Birr to acquire state-owned plantations last week.

Al-Amoudi’s Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc, which is primarily growing rice to export to Saudi Arabia, has leased 10,000 hectares in Gambella region and is in the “process of leasing an additional 290,000 hectares”.

So is it a land grab or a development opportunity? Is land grabbing actually good for Africa? BBC Africa Debate discusses the issue in Freetown in Sierra Leone.

Survival uncovers shocking new evidence of human rights abuses against tribes in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, as government efforts to develop lucrative sugar cane plantations in the region intensify.

The growing insecurity and violence in Gambela, seen in the recent loss of human lives and attacks on government institutions, should be seen as a clear warning to investors about the dangers involved in large scale agricultural investments, says the Anywaa Survival Organisation.

Promoting agricultural development in Africa and addressing the world's food security challenges requires investing in farmers - not in farmland, says Lorenzo Cotula.

African officials have called for greater equity and fairness in trade with the GCC countries that use agricultural land in Africa to feed their populations while famines continue to ravage the continent.

In an effort to improve food security, the government has been investing in agriculture projects abroad, especially in Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, Pakistan, Romania, Sudan and the Americas, to secure food supplies and safeguard against market fluctuations.

According to Rana Kapoor, head of India's Yes Bank, Africa offers immense opportunity in terms of investment in large-scale commercial farming, quoting rates of return of 18-21% and above.

Women, who are already compensating for rising food prices and energy costs with additional time and labor, are now further disadvantaged through land grabbing.

Karuturi Agro Products Plc, part of holding company Karuturi Glolabal Ltd, is planning to go public, floating 200,000 shares worth 1,000 Br each to Ethiopian investors, once it gets the nod from its board of directors.

Large-scale land investment should be seen as an extension of the historical processes of state formation, says this paper from Chatham House

AGCO Corp. held its first Africa agriculture summit in Berlin on Jan. 23. The tractor company says it will fund the development of Model Farms and Training Centers in Algeria, Ethiopia, Libya, Morocco, South Africa and Zambia to teach farmers how to use its technology.

Saudi Star has begun rice cultivation on 10,000ha of land in Gambella and a 10,000ha irrigation project along the already-compromised Alwero River. Only grain that does not meet export requirements will be sold locally.