Via The New York Times, an interesting article on Brazil’s unease with China’s recent interest in its farmland. As the report notes: “When the Chinese came looking for more soybeans here last year, they inquired about buying land — lots of it. Officials in this farming area would not sell the hundreds of thousands of […]
Read more »Via New Scientist, a report on how African land “grabs” may lead to future water conflicts: IS THIS the face of future water conflicts? China, India and Saudi Arabia have lately leased vast tracts of land in sub-Saharan Africa at knockdown prices. Their primary aim is to grow food abroad using the water that African […]
Read more »An interesting commentary on reports that Uganda is ready to lease 60,000 hectares of farmland to Bangladeshi firms looking to grow food in Africa as part of government efforts to ensure food security for its growing population: One of the most intensely discussed international economic phenomena in recent years is that of companies from across […]
Read more »Via African Agriculture, a thoughtful essay on whether the push by multinational corporations and foreign governments in recent years to obtain fertile land in countries such as Ethiopia, Madagascar and Tanzania will lead to development or is simply a “land grab” that further threatens the continent’s food security. As the article notes: “…There has been […]
Read more »Via The Christian Science Monitor, an interesting article on how food inflation and land grabs are spurring Latin America to restrict foreign land ownership: One of the first things passengers see when disembarking at Cuiaba airport in central Brazil is a real estate advertisement promoting arable land to foreigners. South America has some of the […]
Read more »Via The Economist, an article examining the surge in global land deals: THE farmers of Makeni, in central Sierra Leone, signed the contract with their thumbs. In exchange for promises of 2,000 jobs, and reassurances that the bolis (swamps where rice is grown) would not be drained, they approved a deal granting a Swiss company […]
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