The Arabs have been in a land-buying spree from some time. And we are talking about many hundreds of thousands of hectares. Agricultural land is the point of attraction, mainly in Africa and Latin America. The Chinese and East Asians arent far behind in this game. Some Indian companies too have joined this race recently.
The land maybe used to produce food (rice, corn, maize, sugar), fodder, fuel (plants for bio-fuel), flowers which is then transported back to their own countries for home consumption or for sale in other countries.
The Arabs and the Chinese who have one of the lowest per capita of arable land in the world, are forced to hunt for pastures abroad to satisfy their huge demand for food and fodder by buying agricultural land else where.
From a news story:
"In a breathtakingly ambitious bid to ensure food security, a number of countries — particularly those that are cash-rich but land-poor — are buying up enormous swathes of farmland in the poorer nations. In the last one-and-a-half years alone, over 33 million hectares of prime agricultural land in dozens of developing countries have been snapped up. That's roughly the size of Germany. "
Not sure if this chart will appear properly ...
Stats showing "Arable land" holdings:
Rank Countries Amount Date
# 1 United States: 174,448,000 hectares
# 2 India: 159,650,000 hectares
# 3 Russia: 121,781,000 hectares
# 4 China: 103,397,000 hectares
# 5 Brazil: 59,000,000 hectares
# 6 Australia: 49,402,000 hectares
# 7 Canada: 45,660,000 hectares
# 8 Ukraine: 32,452,000 hectares
# 9 Nigeria: 30,500,000 hectares
# 10 Argentina: 27,900,000 hectares
# 11 Mexico: 24,800,000 hectares
# 12 Turkey: 23,830,000 hectares
# 13 Indonesia: 23,000,000 hectares
# 14 Kazakhstan: 22,364,000 hectares
# 15 Pakistan: 21,275,000 hectares
# 16 France: 18,507,000 hectares
# 17 Sudan: 17,000,000 hectares
# 18 Iran: 16,100,000 hectares
# 19 South Africa: 14,753,000 hectares
# 20 Niger: 14,483,000 hectares
# 21 Thailand: 14,133,000 hectares
# 22 Spain: 13,700,000 hectares
# 23 Poland: 12,141,000 hectares
# 24 Germany: 11,903,000 hectares
# 25 Ethiopia: 11,056,000 hectares
# 26 Burma: 10,093,000 hectares
# 27 Romania: 9,288,000 hectares
# 28 Morocco: 8,484,000 hectares
# 29 Bangladesh: 7,955,000 hectares
# 30 Afghanistan: 7,910,000 hectares
Pakistan has joined the club of nations that are ready to offer their land for foriegn investors. The advantage that Pakistan has is that its arable lands are counted among one of the most fertile. But it has not been very successful in its attempts to convince foreign investors so far.
Yes, it may sound bad that ones land is being offered for foreign investors to feed somebody else when our own needs are not met. But the one positive thing that could be taken from this is the infusion of technology that may result due to this which could be used else where in Pakistan.
I have a vested interest in companies that buy land in African countries.
