Le Courrier Interational | 17.02.2011
Disposant de terres arables non exploitées, la Zambie les loue à des entreprises occidentales qui y cultivent des céréales. De quoi assurer l’approvisionnement du marché national.
Scott Baldauf | The Christian Science Monitor
Les collines de cette région de Zambie ont longtemps été connues pour le cuivre que se disputaient les compagnies minières américaines, britanniques et chinoises. Mais cette industrie soumise à des cycles imprévisibles d’expansion et de repli semble maintenant vouée à mettre prochainement la clé sous la porte. La crise alimentaire de 2007, engendrée par la demande croissante de biocarburants qui a fait s’envoler les prix des denrées, a attiré un type d’investisseurs d’un genre totalement nouveau. Pendant que les patrons des compagnies minières consultaient les cartes et évaluaient les richesses qu’ils pouvaient encore extraire des profondeurs du sol, les nouveaux investisseurs étrangers ont estimé les revenus qu’ils pouvaient tirer des champs de maïs et de blé. C’est ainsi qu’ils ont projeté de créer des dizaines de milliers d’emplois stables qui vont relancer l’économie rurale du pays.
“L’Afrique est un importateur de denrées alimentaires, alors qu’elle dispose de vastes étendues de terres fertiles”, remarque Neil Crowder, cofondateur de Chayton Capital, une société d’investissement londonienne, soutenue par la Banque mondiale, qui a investi 10 millions de dollars dans la firme locale Chobe Agrivision pour louer 10 000 hectares dans la région de Mkushi et qui projette de doubler prochainement cette superficie. “Malheureusement, certains des pays les plus pauvres du monde ont les prix alimentaires les plus élevés. Comme on peut réduire les frais de transport en ayant des exploitations en Zambie, on a décidé d’y mettre en place un modèle d’approvisionnement du pays et de ses voisins en denrées de subsistance – principalement en maïs, soja et blé.”
Repère
Chobe Agrivision a commencé à mettre son projet en oeuvre après avoir obtenu un bail de quatorze ans du gouvernement. La société a planté du maïs et du soja à la fin de l’an dernier et elle prévoit d’engager 3 000 habitants de la région pour assurer les récoltes en 2011. En vertu de l’accord signé avec le gouvernement zambien, 80 % de la production sera exportée dans des pays voisins et les 20 % restants seront vendus en Zambie. La Zambie (capitale Lusaka), ex-Rhodésie du Nord, est un pays d’Afrique australe sans accès à la mer, traversé par le fleuve Zambèze. Le pays fut colonisé par les Britanniques à la fin du XIXe siècle et devint un protectorat de l’Empire colonial britannique jusqu’en 1964.
Accueil favorable
Le gouvernement du président Rupiah Banda a accueilli favorablement ce projet qui bénéficie du soutien des agriculteurs. Ceux-ci ne voient pas les investissements étrangers comme une menace. “Selon le recensement en cours, notre population est comprise entre 12 et 15 millions d’habitants, ce qui n’est pas énorme, et nous avons entre 30 et 45 millions d’hectares de terres arables, dont la grande majorité ne sont pas exploitées”, souligne Bradford Machile, le ministre du Développement de l’élevage et de la pêche. A la différence de pays comme Madagascar et le Mozambique, poursuit le ministre, la Zambie n’a pas de grand mouvement de défense des agriculteurs?et?des?consommateurs contre les “vols” de terrains, car les terres ne manquent pas. “Les terres sont ici. Vous ne pouvez pas les prendre et partir avec”, dit-il.
Chobe Agrivision a commencé à mettre son projet en œuvre : après avoir obtenu un bail de quatorze ans du gouvernement, la société a planté du maïs et du soja à la fin de l’an dernier et elle prévoit d’engager 3 000 habitants de la région pour assurer les récoltes en 2011. En vertu de l’accord signé avec le gouvernement zambien, 80 % de la production seront exportés dans des pays voisins et les 20 % restants seront vendus en Zambie.
La société projette également d’entrer en contact avec les petits agriculteurs locaux (dont beaucoup travailleront sur ses terres) et de leur enseigner des techniques de pointe pour qu’ils puissent accroître leur propre production. Quand elle construira ses moulins à grains, elle les dotera d’une capacité accrue pour qu’ils puissent les utiliser aussi pour leur propre compte et améliorer leurs revenus.
Grenier à céréales
“Dans quatre ou cinq ans, la Zambie sera un grenier à céréales non seulement pour l’Afrique australe, mais pour tout le continent”, prédit Stuart Kearns, un ancien fermier zimbabwéen qui dirige les opérations de Chobe dans la ville de Mkushi. Selon lui, les petits agriculteurs ne peuvent pas se payer les grands systèmes d’irrigation à pivot central, dans lesquels des buses gigantesques tournent autour d’un pivot pour distribuer juste la quantité d’eau requise, mais ils peuvent apprendre la technique du zéro labour, qui réduit l’érosion et accroît la production en retenant les substances nutritives dans le sol.
“Dans certains pays, l’agriculture est regardée de haut. Tout le monde aspire à un emploi de col blanc, mais nous voulons faire en sorte que l’agriculture soit enseignée à l’école avant que le mépris ne s’installe, poursuit M. Kearns. C’est un programme dans lequel vous enseignez à vos employés, puis à vos voisins, et chacun propage à son tour ses connaissances.”
Son partenaire, Fred Wallis, qui avait lui aussi une ferme au Zimbabwe, roule jusqu’à la clôture à travers des hectares de plantations bien entretenues et pointe du doigt les champs d’une petite ferme située au-delà. Des femmes courbées en deux désherbent à la main. Des chèvres mordillent des plants avant d’être chassées par une pluie de gravillons lancés par de jeunes garçons. La plupart de ces villageois seront sans doute embauchés et formés par Chobe. “Quand les Chinois sont venus dans la région pour extraire le manganèse, ils sont venus avec leurs propres employés, ils ont pris le manganèse et ils ont fermé la mine. Les gens disent que ce n’est pas bien, explique Fred Wallis. Mais, quand des investisseurs comme Chobe arrivent, ils vivent comme les gens du coin, embauchent ceux-ci et leur enseignent comment mieux cultiver la terre, et, quand ces villageois rentrent chez eux, ils utilisent ces techniques sur leurs propres terres. Voilà le genre d’investissement dont le pays a besoin.”
NEWS - Commodites, Agriculture, Green Investment - NEWS
2/23/2011
Africa farmland has potential of Brazil: Quifel
Pedro Marques dos Santos of Quifel (photo courtesy of Oje)
Reuters | Tue Feb 22, 2011
LONDON (Reuters) - African farmland investment has the potential to match the exponential growth of Brazil's agricultural industry, the head of business development at privately owned agricultural operator Quifel said.
"The best benchmark is really Brazil. What took the Brazilians around 30 years, one should try to do it in 10-15 years," Pedro Marques dos Santos, head of business development at Quifel said, referring to how Africa could emulate Brazil's dominance in global agricultural investments.
Quifel operates in Africa, Latin America and Southern Europe and began operations with a palm project in Brazil.
"In 2007, Quifel also embraced the Sub-Saharan Africa land development opportunity," Marques dos Santos said, noting higher land prices in Brazil as one driver.
Investors poured $26 billion in foreign direct investment into Brazil in 2010 and around one-third of all funds and companies investing in farmland globally have committed funds to Brazil, the OECD said in a report.
But anyone interested in buying up Brazilian land may find it tough as last year the attorney general issued a ruling that limited the area of land foreigners were able to purchase.
The effect has been to cap at 12,350 acres the amount of land that can be bought by a foreign investor or a company that's more than 50 percent foreign-owned, prompting some investors to look to alternative regions.
This, combined with rising food prices, has spurred global interest in African farmland.
Global food prices are at record levels and are likely to remain so in the months to come, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Africa has lower production costs than Latin America due to cheaper land and labour yet could offer similar yields, Marques dos Santos said.
There's a bigger need to invest in infrastructure and logistics in Africa but, "The end result is to expect high returns if farm talent is able to overcome everyday operational difficulties."
Brazil, Latin America's largest country, is one of the world's leading exporters of agricultural commodities including coffee, sugar and soybeans.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Quifel, which runs African farms in Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Angola, chose these countries based on their coastal locations and expectations of high economic growth, Marques dos Santos said.
Coastal West African countries were attractive for fruits and vegetables, while Mozambique appealed "for oilseeds, thus avoiding transhipment within the continent and by being closer to Asian markets for potential exports," he said.
Many African countries are net food importers, raising questions about food security and whether production should go to feeding the local community.
"Quifel's projects are Greenfield and for the foreseeable future our production will be bought by local players - mainly processors or crushers - as the countries need that production for domestic consumption," Marques dos Santos said.
Beyond the food security issue, investing in Africa has other challenges, which helps explain why its agricultural potential has not yet been fulfilled.
"Companies which can't cope with the long-term horizon are slowly leaving the region," he said.
Quifel has a long-term expansion plan within Sub Saharan Africa, he said, adding that its immediate focus will be on the development of the areas it already has under management.
Reuters | Tue Feb 22, 2011
LONDON (Reuters) - African farmland investment has the potential to match the exponential growth of Brazil's agricultural industry, the head of business development at privately owned agricultural operator Quifel said.
"The best benchmark is really Brazil. What took the Brazilians around 30 years, one should try to do it in 10-15 years," Pedro Marques dos Santos, head of business development at Quifel said, referring to how Africa could emulate Brazil's dominance in global agricultural investments.
Quifel operates in Africa, Latin America and Southern Europe and began operations with a palm project in Brazil.
"In 2007, Quifel also embraced the Sub-Saharan Africa land development opportunity," Marques dos Santos said, noting higher land prices in Brazil as one driver.
Investors poured $26 billion in foreign direct investment into Brazil in 2010 and around one-third of all funds and companies investing in farmland globally have committed funds to Brazil, the OECD said in a report.
But anyone interested in buying up Brazilian land may find it tough as last year the attorney general issued a ruling that limited the area of land foreigners were able to purchase.
The effect has been to cap at 12,350 acres the amount of land that can be bought by a foreign investor or a company that's more than 50 percent foreign-owned, prompting some investors to look to alternative regions.
This, combined with rising food prices, has spurred global interest in African farmland.
Global food prices are at record levels and are likely to remain so in the months to come, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Africa has lower production costs than Latin America due to cheaper land and labour yet could offer similar yields, Marques dos Santos said.
There's a bigger need to invest in infrastructure and logistics in Africa but, "The end result is to expect high returns if farm talent is able to overcome everyday operational difficulties."
Brazil, Latin America's largest country, is one of the world's leading exporters of agricultural commodities including coffee, sugar and soybeans.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Quifel, which runs African farms in Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Angola, chose these countries based on their coastal locations and expectations of high economic growth, Marques dos Santos said.
Coastal West African countries were attractive for fruits and vegetables, while Mozambique appealed "for oilseeds, thus avoiding transhipment within the continent and by being closer to Asian markets for potential exports," he said.
Many African countries are net food importers, raising questions about food security and whether production should go to feeding the local community.
"Quifel's projects are Greenfield and for the foreseeable future our production will be bought by local players - mainly processors or crushers - as the countries need that production for domestic consumption," Marques dos Santos said.
Beyond the food security issue, investing in Africa has other challenges, which helps explain why its agricultural potential has not yet been fulfilled.
"Companies which can't cope with the long-term horizon are slowly leaving the region," he said.
Quifel has a long-term expansion plan within Sub Saharan Africa, he said, adding that its immediate focus will be on the development of the areas it already has under management.
Food: The big fright
Qatar Today | 23 February 2011
"The era of low-food price is over, worldwide" says Dr Mahendra Shah, Director of Programme International Affairs, QNFSP.
When the whole country is baking in the Ephoria of the 2022 Bid win and the Fine show of Qatari footballers at the Asian Football Cup 2011, Food security seems like an implausible topic to ponder over.
But not if you look at recent reports from around the world on escalating food prices and the mounting tension and disrupting occurrences in some parts of the world. Though we have not seen the wave of riots that rocked countries such as Haiti and Bangladesh three years ago, when prices of agricultural commodities jumped, it is still a possibility, caution experts UN.
The increase in food costs will also hit developed economies, with companies from McDonald's to Kraft raising retail prices. Finan cial Times in a recent report emphasised that higher food prices boosts overall inflation, which is above the preferred targets of central banks in Europe.
UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has given the global food market 'critical' status and says that immediate measures have to be put in place to stave off a repeat of the 2007/2008 crisis, when food prices doubled in just a week.
Earlier, addressing the UN Summit on Food Security at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters in Rome in 2009, HH the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani pledged Qatar's commitment to contribute in eradicating hun ger and malnutrition. The urgency of the situation was reflected in HH the Emir's words and subsequent actions.
The Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP) was established in 2008.
"Qatar believes that national food security is part of the regional and international food security," said HH the Emir.
But what does Qatar have to do with riots and hunger in other parts of the world? A country which has never had a food crisis so far?
"Here is a country, one of the wealthiest in the world that could buy food at any price, no matter what the price, from the world market. There has been concern in Qatar as there has been concern in the rest of the world. From 2007, we entered a new era in world food. Until then price of food commodities was go ing down. The era of low-food price is over, worldwide" says Dr Mahendra Shah, Director of Programme International Affairs, QNFSP.
And this is so, "because of increasing world demand," says Dr Shah. "Only 5% of the world's food is traded. And international food trade will increase rapidly due to a number of factors including population growth, urbanisation and rise in incomes. At the same time biofuel requirement mandated in a number of coun tries will also affect land availability for food cultivation resulting in high food prices. The food demand cannot be met in some countries and hence there is higher dependence on exports."
But the export market is very sensitive. Countries can stop the export of food based on local reasoning. India banned the export of rice and Russia banned the export of wheat in recent times. "On the one hand, the world needs free trade and on the other countries can refuse to export food commodities due to many reasons - a drought in the country being just one. All this puts pressure on commodities, a fact that countries are painfully aware as food is a essential need."
Understanding this need, Qatar has set up a comprehensive national programme that takes into account the challenges that are the country's alone.
And thus under the direction of HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the QNFSP was established with the objective of creating a sustainable Food Security road map, by introducing structural reforms to address the problems that affect the sustainability of energy, water, agriculture and food supplies.
Heading the QNFSP taskforce is Fahad Al-Attiya, Chairman of QNSFP, who says that this nationwide initiative will make Qatar food secure in 10 years.
"The global risk is high and food is a critical component for the existence of any civilisation, which then makes QNFSP one of the highest of national priorities," says Al-Attiya.
The Arab challenges
While food security is a worldwide issue, the challenges that the Gulf countries face are much higher.
"GCC with a total population of approximately 40 million, of whom 40% are foreign workers, are endowed with oil and gas reserves estimated at some QR130 trillion ($35 trillion). This puts the region's nationals among the world's richest peoples in terms of per capita wealth. However, although the region's eco nomic and energy security are assured, the GCC countries are the world's most water insecure and food deficient, importing 60-95% of their food requirements," says Dr Shah.
The limited land and water resources in the GCC pose a sub stantial technological challenge to increasing domestic food pro duction.
"Of the region's total land area of approximately 259 million hectares, only 1.7% is currently under cultivation, mainly with groundwater irrigation. Although about one-fifth of the total land area is potentially cultivable, the region's arid climate and constraints caused by heat, salinity, limit the levels of food suffi ciency that can be achieved."
Some of the GCC states have established fossil fuel-driven water-desalinisation plants, contributing approximately 15% of the total available water resources in the region.
"However, current concerns about climate change, and the fact that the GCC has one of the highest carbon footprints in per capita terms, limit this option. Investment in research into the use of renewable energy, particularly solar power, in future desalination plants offers a means to increase domestic food pro duction," he reveals.
And this is one of the options that is being explored by QNFSP and once that comes into process will provide the much needed impetus for the whole region to follow this prototype of success.
"From my point of view, every country in the world should produce the maximum amount of food it can, in a manner that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable."
GCC should give the highest priority to establishing a regional centre of excellence for solar-energy research for water desalination, greenhouse solar cooling and greenhouse hydroponic-technology development, says Dr Shah.
Furthermore, a dedicated GCC agricultural research centre for dry-land crops, livestock and aquaculture development, and adaptation to future climate change should also be established.
Regionally relevant research into protected agriculture, solar energy for desalinisation and greenhouse hydroponics has the potential to enhance domestic food self-sufficiency in the GCC countries.
All these are steps taken into due consideration by the QNFSP.
"However, some crops, such as wheat, require as much as 1,400 kg of water to produce 1 kg of yield. This calls for strategic decisions about which crops to produce locally and which to secure through international GCC investments," says Dr Shah.
A proposed partnership model
Over the past few years, GCC states have begun to consider investing in farmland overseas. However, there is growing worldwide concern that such international agricultural investments must be environmentally, economically and socially responsible and sustainable. "They must also be well-structured and legally executed. Otherwise, there is a risk that the burden of food insecurity in the investing GCC countries might end up being transferred to the host coun tries," says Dr Shah.
Dr Shah has identified a solution that would give the oil-rich Arab countries an edge while improving the living conditions and economies of those countries that they lease contract land to use for food produce.
"A shared-benefits model that would best meet the needs of the investor and the local community in currently cultivated land areas where the yield gaps are large could provide the basis for responsible and sustainable agricultural development partnerships," he says.
Dr Shah illustrates his point.
"Consider a situation in which 100 units of land area farmed with poor management and low agricultural tech nology produces 100 tonnes of a food commodity. With foreign investment bringing in sophisticated technologies and management, the production on this piece of land is boosted to 500 tonnes. The local community receives 200 tonnes, while the investor receives a similar share. The remaining 100 tonnes is then sold by the investor into the local market. The market sale would be important in terms of host-country food security, and the sales income would be reinvested for the benefit of the local community through infrastructure and social-services development. The investor's share would need to be acceptable in terms of return on investment.
"Such an innovative partnership arrangement could be further structured as an official development aid (ODA)," says Dr Shah.
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with its fertile land, ample water resources and the world's lowest agricultural productivity, is the biggest hot spot for agricultural land acquisition by public and private investors from the GCC, China, India and Europe. The agricultural sector in SSA countries is in urgent need of invest ment capital.
However, decades of poor government commitments to agriculture and low investments have resulted in stagnating productivity and food-production levels.
In his research papers, Dr Shah has shown how the GCC countries have a real opportunity to invest in Sudan as a development aid partner, not only to assure their own food security but also to contribute to sustainable agricultural development.
"The potential through a shared partnership model, as described above, is substantial. For example, current maize yields of approx 1.2 tonnes/hectare can be increased to more than 7 tonnes/hectare with high agricultural technology and management."
Responsible agricultural investments can contribute to sustainable agriculture development towards achieving food security and an end to the hunger that today affects one-third of the population in SSA.
The GCC's challenge is to adopt a scientific, knowledge-based and policy-relevant integrated agro-ecological and socio-eco nomic approach to enhancing its domestic food production. This can be done only by forming sustainable and responsible development partnerships that can put the SSA countries on a path of progressive and sustainable development.
The Water Challenge
Dr Patrick Linke, Chief Engineer at QNFSP and the Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University Qa tar is of the opinion that water issues in the region are critical.
Ground water resources cannot be touched as it cannot be re plenished given the climatic conditions of the region and hence alternative resources have to be worked out for the food security programme.
"Basically the idea is to desalinate the sea water. The other alternative is to recycle waste water and reuse. But there are health and hygiene issues to deal with while using recycled water for irrigation, not to mention the large quantity needed for this."
QNFSP is considering using non-fossil energy for producing renewable resources, and as a concept, wind and solar energy is to be put to use. Reusing energy is another option and all this is being explored too. "All the issues will be explored, the energy infrastructure, the location of the station, how to transmit the energy from it, to final feasibility of the desalination project, the economies of subsidies, all this will have to be looked into and by 2013, and the picture will be in place."
"For this whole value chain to be economical, at some point of the chain subsidies will have to be put in place. It could be energy, water, or both or just the crop," says Dr Linke.
"The era of low-food price is over, worldwide" says Dr Mahendra Shah, Director of Programme International Affairs, QNFSP.
When the whole country is baking in the Ephoria of the 2022 Bid win and the Fine show of Qatari footballers at the Asian Football Cup 2011, Food security seems like an implausible topic to ponder over.
But not if you look at recent reports from around the world on escalating food prices and the mounting tension and disrupting occurrences in some parts of the world. Though we have not seen the wave of riots that rocked countries such as Haiti and Bangladesh three years ago, when prices of agricultural commodities jumped, it is still a possibility, caution experts UN.
The increase in food costs will also hit developed economies, with companies from McDonald's to Kraft raising retail prices. Finan cial Times in a recent report emphasised that higher food prices boosts overall inflation, which is above the preferred targets of central banks in Europe.
UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has given the global food market 'critical' status and says that immediate measures have to be put in place to stave off a repeat of the 2007/2008 crisis, when food prices doubled in just a week.
Earlier, addressing the UN Summit on Food Security at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters in Rome in 2009, HH the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani pledged Qatar's commitment to contribute in eradicating hun ger and malnutrition. The urgency of the situation was reflected in HH the Emir's words and subsequent actions.
The Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP) was established in 2008.
"Qatar believes that national food security is part of the regional and international food security," said HH the Emir.
But what does Qatar have to do with riots and hunger in other parts of the world? A country which has never had a food crisis so far?
"Here is a country, one of the wealthiest in the world that could buy food at any price, no matter what the price, from the world market. There has been concern in Qatar as there has been concern in the rest of the world. From 2007, we entered a new era in world food. Until then price of food commodities was go ing down. The era of low-food price is over, worldwide" says Dr Mahendra Shah, Director of Programme International Affairs, QNFSP.
And this is so, "because of increasing world demand," says Dr Shah. "Only 5% of the world's food is traded. And international food trade will increase rapidly due to a number of factors including population growth, urbanisation and rise in incomes. At the same time biofuel requirement mandated in a number of coun tries will also affect land availability for food cultivation resulting in high food prices. The food demand cannot be met in some countries and hence there is higher dependence on exports."
But the export market is very sensitive. Countries can stop the export of food based on local reasoning. India banned the export of rice and Russia banned the export of wheat in recent times. "On the one hand, the world needs free trade and on the other countries can refuse to export food commodities due to many reasons - a drought in the country being just one. All this puts pressure on commodities, a fact that countries are painfully aware as food is a essential need."
Understanding this need, Qatar has set up a comprehensive national programme that takes into account the challenges that are the country's alone.
And thus under the direction of HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the QNFSP was established with the objective of creating a sustainable Food Security road map, by introducing structural reforms to address the problems that affect the sustainability of energy, water, agriculture and food supplies.
Heading the QNFSP taskforce is Fahad Al-Attiya, Chairman of QNSFP, who says that this nationwide initiative will make Qatar food secure in 10 years.
"The global risk is high and food is a critical component for the existence of any civilisation, which then makes QNFSP one of the highest of national priorities," says Al-Attiya.
The Arab challenges
While food security is a worldwide issue, the challenges that the Gulf countries face are much higher.
"GCC with a total population of approximately 40 million, of whom 40% are foreign workers, are endowed with oil and gas reserves estimated at some QR130 trillion ($35 trillion). This puts the region's nationals among the world's richest peoples in terms of per capita wealth. However, although the region's eco nomic and energy security are assured, the GCC countries are the world's most water insecure and food deficient, importing 60-95% of their food requirements," says Dr Shah.
The limited land and water resources in the GCC pose a sub stantial technological challenge to increasing domestic food pro duction.
"Of the region's total land area of approximately 259 million hectares, only 1.7% is currently under cultivation, mainly with groundwater irrigation. Although about one-fifth of the total land area is potentially cultivable, the region's arid climate and constraints caused by heat, salinity, limit the levels of food suffi ciency that can be achieved."
Some of the GCC states have established fossil fuel-driven water-desalinisation plants, contributing approximately 15% of the total available water resources in the region.
"However, current concerns about climate change, and the fact that the GCC has one of the highest carbon footprints in per capita terms, limit this option. Investment in research into the use of renewable energy, particularly solar power, in future desalination plants offers a means to increase domestic food pro duction," he reveals.
And this is one of the options that is being explored by QNFSP and once that comes into process will provide the much needed impetus for the whole region to follow this prototype of success.
"From my point of view, every country in the world should produce the maximum amount of food it can, in a manner that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable."
GCC should give the highest priority to establishing a regional centre of excellence for solar-energy research for water desalination, greenhouse solar cooling and greenhouse hydroponic-technology development, says Dr Shah.
Furthermore, a dedicated GCC agricultural research centre for dry-land crops, livestock and aquaculture development, and adaptation to future climate change should also be established.
Regionally relevant research into protected agriculture, solar energy for desalinisation and greenhouse hydroponics has the potential to enhance domestic food self-sufficiency in the GCC countries.
All these are steps taken into due consideration by the QNFSP.
"However, some crops, such as wheat, require as much as 1,400 kg of water to produce 1 kg of yield. This calls for strategic decisions about which crops to produce locally and which to secure through international GCC investments," says Dr Shah.
A proposed partnership model
Over the past few years, GCC states have begun to consider investing in farmland overseas. However, there is growing worldwide concern that such international agricultural investments must be environmentally, economically and socially responsible and sustainable. "They must also be well-structured and legally executed. Otherwise, there is a risk that the burden of food insecurity in the investing GCC countries might end up being transferred to the host coun tries," says Dr Shah.
Dr Shah has identified a solution that would give the oil-rich Arab countries an edge while improving the living conditions and economies of those countries that they lease contract land to use for food produce.
"A shared-benefits model that would best meet the needs of the investor and the local community in currently cultivated land areas where the yield gaps are large could provide the basis for responsible and sustainable agricultural development partnerships," he says.
Dr Shah illustrates his point.
"Consider a situation in which 100 units of land area farmed with poor management and low agricultural tech nology produces 100 tonnes of a food commodity. With foreign investment bringing in sophisticated technologies and management, the production on this piece of land is boosted to 500 tonnes. The local community receives 200 tonnes, while the investor receives a similar share. The remaining 100 tonnes is then sold by the investor into the local market. The market sale would be important in terms of host-country food security, and the sales income would be reinvested for the benefit of the local community through infrastructure and social-services development. The investor's share would need to be acceptable in terms of return on investment.
"Such an innovative partnership arrangement could be further structured as an official development aid (ODA)," says Dr Shah.
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with its fertile land, ample water resources and the world's lowest agricultural productivity, is the biggest hot spot for agricultural land acquisition by public and private investors from the GCC, China, India and Europe. The agricultural sector in SSA countries is in urgent need of invest ment capital.
However, decades of poor government commitments to agriculture and low investments have resulted in stagnating productivity and food-production levels.
In his research papers, Dr Shah has shown how the GCC countries have a real opportunity to invest in Sudan as a development aid partner, not only to assure their own food security but also to contribute to sustainable agricultural development.
"The potential through a shared partnership model, as described above, is substantial. For example, current maize yields of approx 1.2 tonnes/hectare can be increased to more than 7 tonnes/hectare with high agricultural technology and management."
Responsible agricultural investments can contribute to sustainable agriculture development towards achieving food security and an end to the hunger that today affects one-third of the population in SSA.
The GCC's challenge is to adopt a scientific, knowledge-based and policy-relevant integrated agro-ecological and socio-eco nomic approach to enhancing its domestic food production. This can be done only by forming sustainable and responsible development partnerships that can put the SSA countries on a path of progressive and sustainable development.
The Water Challenge
Dr Patrick Linke, Chief Engineer at QNFSP and the Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University Qa tar is of the opinion that water issues in the region are critical.
Ground water resources cannot be touched as it cannot be re plenished given the climatic conditions of the region and hence alternative resources have to be worked out for the food security programme.
"Basically the idea is to desalinate the sea water. The other alternative is to recycle waste water and reuse. But there are health and hygiene issues to deal with while using recycled water for irrigation, not to mention the large quantity needed for this."
QNFSP is considering using non-fossil energy for producing renewable resources, and as a concept, wind and solar energy is to be put to use. Reusing energy is another option and all this is being explored too. "All the issues will be explored, the energy infrastructure, the location of the station, how to transmit the energy from it, to final feasibility of the desalination project, the economies of subsidies, all this will have to be looked into and by 2013, and the picture will be in place."
"For this whole value chain to be economical, at some point of the chain subsidies will have to be put in place. It could be energy, water, or both or just the crop," says Dr Linke.
Agriterra to build port facility in Guinea
World Grain Staff | 23 February 2011
One of Agriterra's cattle ranches in Mozambique, operated by its subsidiary, Mozbife
PORT OF CONAKRY, GUINEA — Agriterra recently announced that it is going to build a 30-hectare industrial and commercial terminal in the Port of Conakry in Guinea. The company said it expects the new terminal to open up new opportunities in the agricultural logistics sector.
Agriterra said the facility will benefit its existing African agriculture business interests by opening up opportunities in the agricultural logistics sector.
Andrew Groves, Agriterra executive director, believes that adding the new port business will help the company to build a “vertically integrated” agricultural and associated logistics group in sub-Saharan Africa.
"This is a fantastic complementary opportunity for Agriterra to expand its activities and utilize its African-focused agricultural, logistics and project management experience to capitalize on the soft and hard commodity resource boom in West Africa,” Groves said. “There remain huge global concerns regarding food security which are prompting significant investment in West African agriculture, particularly in palm oil, cocoa, rice, maize and livestock. This, in tandem with the dramatic increase in the development of mineral resources, particularly iron ore and bauxite, means there is a crucial need to expand the export capacity of the Port of Conakry.”
The company has now signed a concession agreement, with a 20-year initial term, for the new port terminal. The new terminal will include a 300-meter dock and a 30-hectare platform. It will contain grain storage silos, a processing unit, a preparation unit, a logistics depot, a fuel depot, freight hangars and food storage silos.
The company said a construction partner and project financing will now be sought.
"We will continue to develop our Mozambican grain processing and cattle ranching businesses which are growing rapidly and gaining market share in the region,” Groves said. At the moment the Agriterra business consists of two separate grain processing businesses — both in Mozambique — and a cattle ranching business. But the company said it is actively trying to expand through acquisition and investment into new complementary areas.
One of Agriterra's cattle ranches in Mozambique, operated by its subsidiary, Mozbife
PORT OF CONAKRY, GUINEA — Agriterra recently announced that it is going to build a 30-hectare industrial and commercial terminal in the Port of Conakry in Guinea. The company said it expects the new terminal to open up new opportunities in the agricultural logistics sector.
Agriterra said the facility will benefit its existing African agriculture business interests by opening up opportunities in the agricultural logistics sector.
Andrew Groves, Agriterra executive director, believes that adding the new port business will help the company to build a “vertically integrated” agricultural and associated logistics group in sub-Saharan Africa.
"This is a fantastic complementary opportunity for Agriterra to expand its activities and utilize its African-focused agricultural, logistics and project management experience to capitalize on the soft and hard commodity resource boom in West Africa,” Groves said. “There remain huge global concerns regarding food security which are prompting significant investment in West African agriculture, particularly in palm oil, cocoa, rice, maize and livestock. This, in tandem with the dramatic increase in the development of mineral resources, particularly iron ore and bauxite, means there is a crucial need to expand the export capacity of the Port of Conakry.”
The company has now signed a concession agreement, with a 20-year initial term, for the new port terminal. The new terminal will include a 300-meter dock and a 30-hectare platform. It will contain grain storage silos, a processing unit, a preparation unit, a logistics depot, a fuel depot, freight hangars and food storage silos.
The company said a construction partner and project financing will now be sought.
"We will continue to develop our Mozambican grain processing and cattle ranching businesses which are growing rapidly and gaining market share in the region,” Groves said. At the moment the Agriterra business consists of two separate grain processing businesses — both in Mozambique — and a cattle ranching business. But the company said it is actively trying to expand through acquisition and investment into new complementary areas.
Qatar plans to make barren land arable to increase food security
Qatar will secure 70% food security in the country by exploiting the latest technology to make its barren land arable.
The Green Prophet | February 21st, 2011
Tafline Laylin
Roughly as large as Connecticut, Qatar relies almost exclusively on imports for food with only 10% of the country’s edibles produced within its own borders. Unlike other Gulf countries that are usurping African land to expand their agricultural capacity, Qatar intends to transform its own barren land into an agricultural powerhouse. According to Gulf in the Media, the National Food Security Program (NFSP) committee has established a five-stage plan to first identify and then overcome challenges to achieving food independence.
Food prices rise in tandem with oil prices, since the cost of shipping food necessarily increases. As a result, Qatar’s imported food doesn’t come cheap. To counter this problem, the country established their NFSP in 2008.
The 17-member committee will identify challenges, conduct surveys, and analyze data related to exploiting the most modern agricultural methods to render land between Doha and Al Khor arable.
Although the team expects to receive some resistance from middlemen in the current food supply chain, NFSP and its Chairman, Mohamed bin Fahad Al Attiyah, welcome input and investments from the private sector.
Widespread agricultural production in a country with few freshwater resources and an unforgiving desert climate is no easy task. Nonetheless, Qatar will invest huge sums of money on research and developing a progressive information technology hub in order to secure lower food prices.
Their four major foci will be:
Agricultural production
Managing and desalinating sea water
Sustainable energy resources
Food processing industries
“We are well on our way to making reliance on food imports a thing of the past,” Al Attiyah told the paper.
The Green Prophet | February 21st, 2011
Tafline Laylin
Roughly as large as Connecticut, Qatar relies almost exclusively on imports for food with only 10% of the country’s edibles produced within its own borders. Unlike other Gulf countries that are usurping African land to expand their agricultural capacity, Qatar intends to transform its own barren land into an agricultural powerhouse. According to Gulf in the Media, the National Food Security Program (NFSP) committee has established a five-stage plan to first identify and then overcome challenges to achieving food independence.
Food prices rise in tandem with oil prices, since the cost of shipping food necessarily increases. As a result, Qatar’s imported food doesn’t come cheap. To counter this problem, the country established their NFSP in 2008.
The 17-member committee will identify challenges, conduct surveys, and analyze data related to exploiting the most modern agricultural methods to render land between Doha and Al Khor arable.
Although the team expects to receive some resistance from middlemen in the current food supply chain, NFSP and its Chairman, Mohamed bin Fahad Al Attiyah, welcome input and investments from the private sector.
Widespread agricultural production in a country with few freshwater resources and an unforgiving desert climate is no easy task. Nonetheless, Qatar will invest huge sums of money on research and developing a progressive information technology hub in order to secure lower food prices.
Their four major foci will be:
Agricultural production
Managing and desalinating sea water
Sustainable energy resources
Food processing industries
“We are well on our way to making reliance on food imports a thing of the past,” Al Attiyah told the paper.
Hedge Funds Boost Bullish Silver Bets as Mideast Tensions Mount
By Pham-Duy Nguyen - Feb 22, 2011 Hedge funds boosted bullish bets on silver to the highest in almost four months as tensions in the Middle East sent the metal to a 30-year high.
Managed-money funds held net-long positions, or wagers on rising prices, totaling 35,159 contracts on the Comex as of Feb. 15, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed last week. That’s the most since October. Holdings have gained for three straight weeks, the longest streak since September.
Silver futures rallied 7.7 percent last week, the most since early December, as Egypt’s pro-democracy demonstrations spread to Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Iran. Prices have doubled in the past year and touched $32.87 an ounce in New York on Feb. 18, the highest since March 1980.
“With the Middle East deteriorating, and the threat of inflation, you’ve got the big money flowing back into silver and precious metals,” said Matt Zeman, a metals trader at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago. “Silver provides better upside exposure than gold. Gold hasn’t moved as much, and people are chasing yields.”
Gold in New York gained 2.1 percent last week and is up 24 percent in the past 12 months, trailing silver’s rally. Bullish gold holdings by managed-money funds totaled 159,814 contracts, up 10 percent from the previous week and the highest total since December, CFTC data show.
‘Silver Over Gold’
“If I had to, I’d pick silver over gold,” said James Dailey, who manages about $200 million at TEAM Financial Asset Management LLC in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “Gold and silver are picking up market share in the currency world as a store of value. Silver’s also got the tailwind of the global industrial expansion.”
Silver futures for March delivery gained 2.3 percent to settle at $32.296 on Feb. 18 on the Comex. Gold futures for April delivery gained 0.3 percent to $1,388.60 an ounce. The metal touched a record $1,432.50 on Dec. 7.
Managed-money positions include hedge funds, commodity- trading advisers and commodity pools. Analysts and investors follow changes in speculator positions because such transactions may reflect an expectation of a shift in prices.
Managed-money funds held net-long positions, or wagers on rising prices, totaling 35,159 contracts on the Comex as of Feb. 15, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed last week. That’s the most since October. Holdings have gained for three straight weeks, the longest streak since September.
Silver futures rallied 7.7 percent last week, the most since early December, as Egypt’s pro-democracy demonstrations spread to Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Iran. Prices have doubled in the past year and touched $32.87 an ounce in New York on Feb. 18, the highest since March 1980.
“With the Middle East deteriorating, and the threat of inflation, you’ve got the big money flowing back into silver and precious metals,” said Matt Zeman, a metals trader at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago. “Silver provides better upside exposure than gold. Gold hasn’t moved as much, and people are chasing yields.”
Gold in New York gained 2.1 percent last week and is up 24 percent in the past 12 months, trailing silver’s rally. Bullish gold holdings by managed-money funds totaled 159,814 contracts, up 10 percent from the previous week and the highest total since December, CFTC data show.
‘Silver Over Gold’
“If I had to, I’d pick silver over gold,” said James Dailey, who manages about $200 million at TEAM Financial Asset Management LLC in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “Gold and silver are picking up market share in the currency world as a store of value. Silver’s also got the tailwind of the global industrial expansion.”
Silver futures for March delivery gained 2.3 percent to settle at $32.296 on Feb. 18 on the Comex. Gold futures for April delivery gained 0.3 percent to $1,388.60 an ounce. The metal touched a record $1,432.50 on Dec. 7.
Managed-money positions include hedge funds, commodity- trading advisers and commodity pools. Analysts and investors follow changes in speculator positions because such transactions may reflect an expectation of a shift in prices.
Louis Dreyfus Said to Close Commodity Fund to New Investors
By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen - Feb 22, 2011 The $2 billion commodity hedge fund of Louis Dreyfus Group, the world’s largest rice and cotton trader, stopped accepting new money from investors, according to two people, after assets advanced 20-fold in about two years.
The Louis Dreyfus Commodities Alpha Fund, managed by Geneva-based Ian McIntosh, started with $100 million in November 2008 and focuses mainly on farm products including grains, oilseeds, sugar, coffee and cocoa. The fund returned 17.3 percent in 2010, according to the people who have direct knowledge of the matter. They declined to be identified because the information isn’t public.
Investors increased their allocation to commodities as cotton and rubber soared to records, and coffee more than doubled in the past year, after drought and floods ruined crops. Commodities-related funds attracted $5 billion in the fourth quarter, the biggest such inflow since the period ended June 30, 2009, said Farhan Mumtaz, an analyst at Eurekahedge Pte.
“Physical commodity market knowledge assists in more accurate supply and demand analysis” for hedge funds trading raw materials, said Adam Taylor, assistant portfolio manager at London-based Liongate Capital Management LP, which invests more than $500 million in such funds.
The Louis Dreyfus Group, founded about 160 years ago, trades grains, oilseeds, sugar, ethanol, coffee and cotton, and has offices in more than 55 countries, its website said. The company has expanded into energy, real estate and electricity distribution in France. McIntosh, 49, has been with Louis Dreyfus since 1984. The fund also trades metals and freight.
Fund Returns
Commodity hedge funds returned on average 10.65 percent in 2010, the Newedge Commodity Trading Index shows. Investors in the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Commodity Index received 9.02 percent.
Assets managed by commodity-related funds were $195.8 billion as of Dec. 31, Eurekahedge’s Mumtaz said in Singapore.
Cotton jumped to a record $2.0893 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. on Feb. 18 and more than doubled in the past 12 months on demand from China and as floods destroyed crops in Australia and Pakistan. Rubber surged to an all-time high of 535.7 yen per kilogram the same day after floods in Thailand disrupted output.
Hedge funds are largely unregulated investment vehicles whose managers can trade any asset, aim to make money regardless of whether markets rise or fall and participate substantially in profits from money invested.
The Louis Dreyfus Commodities Alpha Fund, managed by Geneva-based Ian McIntosh, started with $100 million in November 2008 and focuses mainly on farm products including grains, oilseeds, sugar, coffee and cocoa. The fund returned 17.3 percent in 2010, according to the people who have direct knowledge of the matter. They declined to be identified because the information isn’t public.
Investors increased their allocation to commodities as cotton and rubber soared to records, and coffee more than doubled in the past year, after drought and floods ruined crops. Commodities-related funds attracted $5 billion in the fourth quarter, the biggest such inflow since the period ended June 30, 2009, said Farhan Mumtaz, an analyst at Eurekahedge Pte.
“Physical commodity market knowledge assists in more accurate supply and demand analysis” for hedge funds trading raw materials, said Adam Taylor, assistant portfolio manager at London-based Liongate Capital Management LP, which invests more than $500 million in such funds.
The Louis Dreyfus Group, founded about 160 years ago, trades grains, oilseeds, sugar, ethanol, coffee and cotton, and has offices in more than 55 countries, its website said. The company has expanded into energy, real estate and electricity distribution in France. McIntosh, 49, has been with Louis Dreyfus since 1984. The fund also trades metals and freight.
Fund Returns
Commodity hedge funds returned on average 10.65 percent in 2010, the Newedge Commodity Trading Index shows. Investors in the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Commodity Index received 9.02 percent.
Assets managed by commodity-related funds were $195.8 billion as of Dec. 31, Eurekahedge’s Mumtaz said in Singapore.
Cotton jumped to a record $2.0893 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. on Feb. 18 and more than doubled in the past 12 months on demand from China and as floods destroyed crops in Australia and Pakistan. Rubber surged to an all-time high of 535.7 yen per kilogram the same day after floods in Thailand disrupted output.
Hedge funds are largely unregulated investment vehicles whose managers can trade any asset, aim to make money regardless of whether markets rise or fall and participate substantially in profits from money invested.
2/22/2011
Abu Dhabi Royal to Invest in Chechnya as Putin Pushes Rebuild
By Henry Meyer, Zainab Fattah and Ilya Arkhipov - Feb 22, 2011 Royal Group, run by the brother of Abu Dhabi’s ruler, may invest several hundred million dollars in housing and agriculture projects in Chechnya, said Ramzan Kadyrov, the Russian region’s leader.
Royal Group, which invested in Al-Reem, a $60 billion island project in Abu Dhabi, recently sent a delegation to the region, Kadyrov said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Moscow on Feb. 19.
“We proposed some projects to them and they really liked them,” said Kadyrov, who has spearheaded Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s campaign to rebuild infrastructure devastated by two wars since 1994. “They said they are ready to participate in building homes and in the agricultural sector.”
Russia is trying to lure investment to the North Caucasus region, which has seen almost daily attacks on government officials and police. With the Winter Olympics taking place in the nearby resort of Sochi in 2014, Putin has tried to drum up investment in the mostly Muslim region.
“The federal government is trying to attract investments although Chechnya isn’t normally the kind of place where businesses would like to put their money,” said Nikolai Petrov, an analyst from the Moscow Carnegie Center.
Then-President Putin groomed Kadyrov to lead Chechnya after his father Akhmad was killed in a bomb attack on the regional capital Grozny’s main soccer stadium in 2004. Human Rights Watch, which tracks government abuse, has accused Kadyrov of ordering abductions and torture, which he has denied.
‘$100 Million’
Royal Group will spend as much as $100 million in the first phase of a housing project, said Samia Bou Azza, a spokeswoman. The total value “may go up in different phases” and the company is considering investment in livestock, the dairy and power industries, she said by phone yesterday.
The plan is part of growing interest in Russian investment in the Gulf region. United Arab Emirates investors, including Gulftainer Company Ltd., a port operator in Sharjah, and Dubai- based Damac Properties last year agreed to spend $800 million in Russia. The deals were sealed during Putin’s investment forum in Sochi.
Verno Capital, a Moscow-based hedge fund, in November won a mandate to manage $100 million for Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development. Roland Nash in December quit after 14 years as chief strategist of Renaissance Capital to join Verno in the same capacity.
June Meeting
The Chechen leader, 34, said he first discussed investment opportunities at a meeting in June last year with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He then met Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, who is chairman of Royal Group and another son of Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, last year.
Royal Group is active in media, trade, financing, real estate, manufacturing, construction and technology.
One of Kadyrov’s aides, Adam Delimkhanov, is wanted by Interpol for allegedly masterminding the March 2009 murder of a leading rival of the Chechen president in Dubai. Sulim Yamadayev was gunned down in an elite seafront housing complex, in a high- profile case for the main business and tourist hub in the Gulf, a popular destination for wealthy Russians and other foreigners.
Dubai Trial
Dubai authorities tried two men for the murder, including an Iranian who worked as a groom for Kadyrov’s horses in the city state. After they were convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment, a Dubai court in December reduced the prison term to 27 months; with time served, they are due for release in mid-2011.
The cases of other suspects in the murder are being reviewed by the court and decisions on whether to pursue suspects through Interpol depend on the judgments, Major-General Khamis al Mazinah, deputy commander of Dubai police, said by phone yesterday.
Kadyrov said accusations against Delimkhanov, whom he described as a “friend and a brother,” are “untrue” and “unfounded.” According to Dubai police, the Kadyrov aide arranged the delivery of the murder weapon, a gold-plated Makarov pistol.
The potential business ties between Abu Dhabi and Chechnya show the controversy surrounding the murder is being forgotten, said Petrov at the Carnegie Center.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the two biggest members of the United Arab Emirates, the second-largest Arab economy. In 2004, another Gulf state, Qatar, allowed two Russian agents to return home after sentencing them to life for the murder of a former president of breakaway Chechnya, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.
Royal Group, which invested in Al-Reem, a $60 billion island project in Abu Dhabi, recently sent a delegation to the region, Kadyrov said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Moscow on Feb. 19.
“We proposed some projects to them and they really liked them,” said Kadyrov, who has spearheaded Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s campaign to rebuild infrastructure devastated by two wars since 1994. “They said they are ready to participate in building homes and in the agricultural sector.”
Russia is trying to lure investment to the North Caucasus region, which has seen almost daily attacks on government officials and police. With the Winter Olympics taking place in the nearby resort of Sochi in 2014, Putin has tried to drum up investment in the mostly Muslim region.
“The federal government is trying to attract investments although Chechnya isn’t normally the kind of place where businesses would like to put their money,” said Nikolai Petrov, an analyst from the Moscow Carnegie Center.
Then-President Putin groomed Kadyrov to lead Chechnya after his father Akhmad was killed in a bomb attack on the regional capital Grozny’s main soccer stadium in 2004. Human Rights Watch, which tracks government abuse, has accused Kadyrov of ordering abductions and torture, which he has denied.
‘$100 Million’
Royal Group will spend as much as $100 million in the first phase of a housing project, said Samia Bou Azza, a spokeswoman. The total value “may go up in different phases” and the company is considering investment in livestock, the dairy and power industries, she said by phone yesterday.
The plan is part of growing interest in Russian investment in the Gulf region. United Arab Emirates investors, including Gulftainer Company Ltd., a port operator in Sharjah, and Dubai- based Damac Properties last year agreed to spend $800 million in Russia. The deals were sealed during Putin’s investment forum in Sochi.
Verno Capital, a Moscow-based hedge fund, in November won a mandate to manage $100 million for Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development. Roland Nash in December quit after 14 years as chief strategist of Renaissance Capital to join Verno in the same capacity.
June Meeting
The Chechen leader, 34, said he first discussed investment opportunities at a meeting in June last year with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He then met Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, who is chairman of Royal Group and another son of Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, last year.
Royal Group is active in media, trade, financing, real estate, manufacturing, construction and technology.
One of Kadyrov’s aides, Adam Delimkhanov, is wanted by Interpol for allegedly masterminding the March 2009 murder of a leading rival of the Chechen president in Dubai. Sulim Yamadayev was gunned down in an elite seafront housing complex, in a high- profile case for the main business and tourist hub in the Gulf, a popular destination for wealthy Russians and other foreigners.
Dubai Trial
Dubai authorities tried two men for the murder, including an Iranian who worked as a groom for Kadyrov’s horses in the city state. After they were convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment, a Dubai court in December reduced the prison term to 27 months; with time served, they are due for release in mid-2011.
The cases of other suspects in the murder are being reviewed by the court and decisions on whether to pursue suspects through Interpol depend on the judgments, Major-General Khamis al Mazinah, deputy commander of Dubai police, said by phone yesterday.
Kadyrov said accusations against Delimkhanov, whom he described as a “friend and a brother,” are “untrue” and “unfounded.” According to Dubai police, the Kadyrov aide arranged the delivery of the murder weapon, a gold-plated Makarov pistol.
The potential business ties between Abu Dhabi and Chechnya show the controversy surrounding the murder is being forgotten, said Petrov at the Carnegie Center.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the two biggest members of the United Arab Emirates, the second-largest Arab economy. In 2004, another Gulf state, Qatar, allowed two Russian agents to return home after sentencing them to life for the murder of a former president of breakaway Chechnya, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.
2/21/2011
Hedge Funds Increase Bullish Cocoa Bets on Ivory Coast Unrest
By Debarati Roy - Feb 21, 2011 Hedge funds are the most bullish on cocoa futures in almost seven months as political turmoil threatens supplies from Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest producer, and prices jumped to the highest since 1979.
In the week ended Feb. 15, hedge funds and money managers increased their net-long positions, or bets on rising prices, by 11 percent to 20,936 futures and options contracts, the highest since July, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. The holdings have more than doubled in the past month.
Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of Ivory Coast’s Nov. 28 elections, told exporters to halt cocoa shipments until Feb. 23 in a bid to cut off funds to his rival. Prices surged to a 32-year high last week. The political stalemate entered its third month as Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president who has ruled for a decade, refused to cede power.
“The supply situation because of Ivory Coast problems is worrisome,” said Luis Rangel, a vice president at ICAP Futures LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey. “Speculators are very active in this counter.”
Cocoa futures for May delivery jumped $61, or 1.8 percent, to settle at $3,499 a metric ton on Feb. 18 on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching $3,511, the highest since February 1979.
The export ban may send prices as high as $3,720, according to a Bloomberg survey of six analysts on Jan. 25. That would be the highest since January 1979.
Managed-money positions include hedge funds, commodity pools and commodity-trading advisers. Analysts and investors follow changes in speculator positions because such transactions may reflect an expectation of a change in prices.
In the week ended Feb. 15, hedge funds and money managers increased their net-long positions, or bets on rising prices, by 11 percent to 20,936 futures and options contracts, the highest since July, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. The holdings have more than doubled in the past month.
Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of Ivory Coast’s Nov. 28 elections, told exporters to halt cocoa shipments until Feb. 23 in a bid to cut off funds to his rival. Prices surged to a 32-year high last week. The political stalemate entered its third month as Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president who has ruled for a decade, refused to cede power.
“The supply situation because of Ivory Coast problems is worrisome,” said Luis Rangel, a vice president at ICAP Futures LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey. “Speculators are very active in this counter.”
Cocoa futures for May delivery jumped $61, or 1.8 percent, to settle at $3,499 a metric ton on Feb. 18 on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching $3,511, the highest since February 1979.
The export ban may send prices as high as $3,720, according to a Bloomberg survey of six analysts on Jan. 25. That would be the highest since January 1979.
Managed-money positions include hedge funds, commodity pools and commodity-trading advisers. Analysts and investors follow changes in speculator positions because such transactions may reflect an expectation of a change in prices.
2/16/2011
Arab farm investment push
Stock & Land | 10 February 2011
FORMER Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, is leading a push to get Arabs to invest in Australian farmland as part of a long term food security strategy for oil-rich Gulf States
Mr Hawke, a founding member of the Australian Gulf Council (AGC), believes the combination of Saudi money and Australian farmland and farming know-how will make a good mix, and the oil rich States are keen to buy in.
With fast-growing populations, shrinking water reserves and land areas that are mostly desert, Arabian Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are keen to reduce their reliance on their own limited irrigated farmland or volatile import markets.
While increasing foreign ownership of Australian land and agribusiness assets has stirred concerns about a long term lock-up of production for overseas profit, and implications for neighbouring landholders, overseas investment activity isn't slowing.
Last year Qatar-based sovereign agricultural investment company, Hassad Food, made its mark as a high stakes buyer of rural property in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, while other Gulf companies have footprints here, too.
Hassad, an arm of the government-owned Qatar Investment Authority, is believed to have paid almost $30 million in November for five neighbouring Central West NSW properties totalling 3660 hectares around Canowindra, soon after buying prominent NSW Merino stud property, Raby Station, at Warren.
Raby Station at Warren, bought by Qatar Investment Authority’s Hassad Food last year after earlier buying Clover Downs at Cunnamulla from Clyde for $18.5 million and “Kaladbro Estate” in western Victoria for about $25m in late 2009. Hassad also bought 6800 hectares around Canowindra in November last year.
Saudi investors have a budget of almost $3 billion to invest in food production outside their home base, an Australian business group led by Mr Hawke was reportedly told in December.
Saudi Arabia has been canvassing farmland purchases elsewhere around the globe, too, including prospects in Sudan, while government and business leaders have also been negotiating possible projects in Senegal and the Philippines.
African nations such as Mozambique have also invited the Saudis to expand farming projects they have already started on that continent.
Mr Hawke and former Howard Government treasurer, Peter Costello, jointly led a AGF trade mission to the region to promote investment in a variety of Australian industries - from education to minerals - but farmland and food security were the topics that most interested their hosts.
"The whole food security issue is central to almost every discussion you have with government leaders in the gulf today," said AGC chief executive officer Michael Yabsley.
"No matter what wealth oil generates, you cannot compensate for a scarcity of arable land."
Among the companies represented on the week-long tour of gulf States was R.M. Williams Agriculture Holdings (RMWAH) - a joint venture initiated 18 months ago, between bush clothing specialist R.M.Williams and Sydney-based investment company, Primary Holdings International.
RMWAH, which was exploring options for "significant investment" to expand its farming interests, has a heavy focus on organically grown livestock on two Northern Territory properties and two in Queensland, including a big poultry farm.
Executive chairman, David Pearse, said the trade mission provided an opportunity to meet ruling families in the region and promote Australian agriculture as well as his own business plans.
Mr Yabsley acknowledged, however, that overseas investment, particularly by sovereign governments securing direct food supply lines for themselves was an increasingly contentious issue.
"The issue of Sovereign wealth buying land is a big topic - probably mostly among rural Australians - and there's also a lot of sensibility about the issue from Gulf State investors and ruling families," he said.
"They want to be sure that best practice management of any farming investment is the order of the day.
"The extent of overseas investment in Australian agriculture is a policy issue for governments to oversee, and the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) plays an active role in keeping a close eye on what's approved for sale to off-shore investors."
But Liberal Senator, Bill Heffernan, said the FIRB was not active enough and sovereign investment ambitions were enticing some vested interests to flog off Australian farmland in lucrative, short-sighted deals with overseas buyers.
He said vendors, bankers and business interests who were keen to sell to rich government-backed corporations from China, the Middle East or elsewhere, were not thinking about the long term impact on the viability of family farms and small businesses in Australia in two or three decades.
"I've no objection to foreign capital or people wanting to make a quid by selling to the highest bidder, but we've got to wake up fast while we still own our own destiny," Senator Heffernan said.
"Family farms are the mainstay of our sovereign production. Their land should be feeding Australia and our export markets as global populations grow and we face the prospect of millions of our near neighbours being displaced by food shortages.
"Once we sell big slabs of our sovereign assets to another government it won't care too much about what we think that land or water should be used for."
FORMER Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, is leading a push to get Arabs to invest in Australian farmland as part of a long term food security strategy for oil-rich Gulf States
Mr Hawke, a founding member of the Australian Gulf Council (AGC), believes the combination of Saudi money and Australian farmland and farming know-how will make a good mix, and the oil rich States are keen to buy in.
With fast-growing populations, shrinking water reserves and land areas that are mostly desert, Arabian Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are keen to reduce their reliance on their own limited irrigated farmland or volatile import markets.
While increasing foreign ownership of Australian land and agribusiness assets has stirred concerns about a long term lock-up of production for overseas profit, and implications for neighbouring landholders, overseas investment activity isn't slowing.
Last year Qatar-based sovereign agricultural investment company, Hassad Food, made its mark as a high stakes buyer of rural property in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, while other Gulf companies have footprints here, too.
Hassad, an arm of the government-owned Qatar Investment Authority, is believed to have paid almost $30 million in November for five neighbouring Central West NSW properties totalling 3660 hectares around Canowindra, soon after buying prominent NSW Merino stud property, Raby Station, at Warren.
Raby Station at Warren, bought by Qatar Investment Authority’s Hassad Food last year after earlier buying Clover Downs at Cunnamulla from Clyde for $18.5 million and “Kaladbro Estate” in western Victoria for about $25m in late 2009. Hassad also bought 6800 hectares around Canowindra in November last year.
Saudi investors have a budget of almost $3 billion to invest in food production outside their home base, an Australian business group led by Mr Hawke was reportedly told in December.
Saudi Arabia has been canvassing farmland purchases elsewhere around the globe, too, including prospects in Sudan, while government and business leaders have also been negotiating possible projects in Senegal and the Philippines.
African nations such as Mozambique have also invited the Saudis to expand farming projects they have already started on that continent.
Mr Hawke and former Howard Government treasurer, Peter Costello, jointly led a AGF trade mission to the region to promote investment in a variety of Australian industries - from education to minerals - but farmland and food security were the topics that most interested their hosts.
"The whole food security issue is central to almost every discussion you have with government leaders in the gulf today," said AGC chief executive officer Michael Yabsley.
"No matter what wealth oil generates, you cannot compensate for a scarcity of arable land."
Among the companies represented on the week-long tour of gulf States was R.M. Williams Agriculture Holdings (RMWAH) - a joint venture initiated 18 months ago, between bush clothing specialist R.M.Williams and Sydney-based investment company, Primary Holdings International.
RMWAH, which was exploring options for "significant investment" to expand its farming interests, has a heavy focus on organically grown livestock on two Northern Territory properties and two in Queensland, including a big poultry farm.
Executive chairman, David Pearse, said the trade mission provided an opportunity to meet ruling families in the region and promote Australian agriculture as well as his own business plans.
Mr Yabsley acknowledged, however, that overseas investment, particularly by sovereign governments securing direct food supply lines for themselves was an increasingly contentious issue.
"The issue of Sovereign wealth buying land is a big topic - probably mostly among rural Australians - and there's also a lot of sensibility about the issue from Gulf State investors and ruling families," he said.
"They want to be sure that best practice management of any farming investment is the order of the day.
"The extent of overseas investment in Australian agriculture is a policy issue for governments to oversee, and the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) plays an active role in keeping a close eye on what's approved for sale to off-shore investors."
But Liberal Senator, Bill Heffernan, said the FIRB was not active enough and sovereign investment ambitions were enticing some vested interests to flog off Australian farmland in lucrative, short-sighted deals with overseas buyers.
He said vendors, bankers and business interests who were keen to sell to rich government-backed corporations from China, the Middle East or elsewhere, were not thinking about the long term impact on the viability of family farms and small businesses in Australia in two or three decades.
"I've no objection to foreign capital or people wanting to make a quid by selling to the highest bidder, but we've got to wake up fast while we still own our own destiny," Senator Heffernan said.
"Family farms are the mainstay of our sovereign production. Their land should be feeding Australia and our export markets as global populations grow and we face the prospect of millions of our near neighbours being displaced by food shortages.
"Once we sell big slabs of our sovereign assets to another government it won't care too much about what we think that land or water should be used for."
UAE looking to Turkey for investing in food security
The National | 11 February 2011
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and UEA's Foreign Minister Abdallah bin Zayid Al Nuhayyan at a joint press conference in Istanbul, December 2010.
by Tom Arnold
The UAE will look to invest in farmland in Turkey as rising prices raise the urgency of food security, says Sultan al Mansouri, the Minister of Economy.
Recent natural catastrophes from Australia to Argentina had taken officials by surprise and pushed up prices of some commodities, he said.
Mr al Mansouri yesterday welcomed a high-level Turkish delegation headed by the country's finance minister Mohammad Shamsheik.
Both countries want to raise bilateral trade to US$10 billion (Dh36.73bn) by 2015. Bilateral trade reached $3.1bn during the first 10 months of last year, said Mr al Mansouri.
"The issue of the food crisis we see all over the world puts much more focus in areas of co-operation," he said during the UAE-Turkey Joint Economic Committee meeting.
"Turkey has great potential in the agricultural sector and we would like the Turkish side to provide us with opportunities to invest in the sector as this is one of our priorities."
Agriculture is still one of the most valuable sectors of the Turkish economy, with about half of the country's land area devoted to farming. Turkey is an important exporter of fruit, wheat and cotton. The prices of the last two commodities have surged in recent months as bad harvests in key exporting nations put pressures on supply.
As a country that imports about 85 per cent of its food requirements, the UAE is taking action to safeguard its future needs by building strategic food reserves.
Turkey was "very open" to agricultural investment from the UAE, said Mr Shamsheik.
Opportunities were especially plentiful in the south-east of the country, where there were 1.8 million hectares of land, he said.
The two sides also discussed the possibility of linking Turkey to the planned GCC railway project. Running from Kuwait City to Muscat, the estimated 2,117km-long project will carry passengers and freight across the six GCC states.
"This railway project will cover the whole of the GCC and will eventually reach Turkey due to the lines that are connected to Turkey and further to Europe," said Mr al Mansouri.
Nasser Ahmed Khalifa al Suwaidi, the chairman of Union Railway, was among the officials at the meeting. The developer and operator of the proposed national railway will begin tendering civil engineering contracts next month.
Mr Shamsheik said he was delighted at the prospect of connecting Turkey with the GCC through the project and said Turkish companies had expressed an interest in bidding for construction contracts.
Turkey was in talks with the GCC over a free-trade agreement between the two sides, said Mr Shamsheik.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and UEA's Foreign Minister Abdallah bin Zayid Al Nuhayyan at a joint press conference in Istanbul, December 2010.
by Tom Arnold
The UAE will look to invest in farmland in Turkey as rising prices raise the urgency of food security, says Sultan al Mansouri, the Minister of Economy.
Recent natural catastrophes from Australia to Argentina had taken officials by surprise and pushed up prices of some commodities, he said.
Mr al Mansouri yesterday welcomed a high-level Turkish delegation headed by the country's finance minister Mohammad Shamsheik.
Both countries want to raise bilateral trade to US$10 billion (Dh36.73bn) by 2015. Bilateral trade reached $3.1bn during the first 10 months of last year, said Mr al Mansouri.
"The issue of the food crisis we see all over the world puts much more focus in areas of co-operation," he said during the UAE-Turkey Joint Economic Committee meeting.
"Turkey has great potential in the agricultural sector and we would like the Turkish side to provide us with opportunities to invest in the sector as this is one of our priorities."
Agriculture is still one of the most valuable sectors of the Turkish economy, with about half of the country's land area devoted to farming. Turkey is an important exporter of fruit, wheat and cotton. The prices of the last two commodities have surged in recent months as bad harvests in key exporting nations put pressures on supply.
As a country that imports about 85 per cent of its food requirements, the UAE is taking action to safeguard its future needs by building strategic food reserves.
Turkey was "very open" to agricultural investment from the UAE, said Mr Shamsheik.
Opportunities were especially plentiful in the south-east of the country, where there were 1.8 million hectares of land, he said.
The two sides also discussed the possibility of linking Turkey to the planned GCC railway project. Running from Kuwait City to Muscat, the estimated 2,117km-long project will carry passengers and freight across the six GCC states.
"This railway project will cover the whole of the GCC and will eventually reach Turkey due to the lines that are connected to Turkey and further to Europe," said Mr al Mansouri.
Nasser Ahmed Khalifa al Suwaidi, the chairman of Union Railway, was among the officials at the meeting. The developer and operator of the proposed national railway will begin tendering civil engineering contracts next month.
Mr Shamsheik said he was delighted at the prospect of connecting Turkey with the GCC through the project and said Turkish companies had expressed an interest in bidding for construction contracts.
Turkey was in talks with the GCC over a free-trade agreement between the two sides, said Mr Shamsheik.
South African farmers ready to venture into the Congo
How We Made It in Africa | 13 February 2011
A group of South African farmers is getting ready to go up to the Republic of the Congo and start with commercial agriculture in the central African state.
The process started in 2009 when the Congo extended a formal invitation to South African farmers to investigate the possibility of farming in the Congo. The country’s agriculture sector has been described as very underdeveloped.
An organisation called Congo Agriculture has been established. Congo Agriculture, which is affiliated to South African farmers union Agri SA, will facilitate and drive the process of setting up farmers in the Congo.
Pioneers in commercial agriculture
Gert Rall, CEO of Congo Agriculture, said the first farmers are set to travel to the Congo in March to pick their farms and register local companies. The group has been asked to start operations on a farm of around 80,000 hectares, although according to Rall, the area of land available is so vast that one cannot put an exact size on it. “Practically half of the country is available for the development of agriculture,” he said.
The farmers will initially focus on maize, all of which will be produced for local consumption as it is expected that no crops will be exported within the first five years.
One of the largest challenges the farmers will face is the Congo’s lack of infrastructure. “One big problem is there is hardly any infrastructure, so . . . whatever we want, we need to put it there,” Rall said.
The Congo’s favourable climate and incentives offered by the government should, however, make up for some of the difficulties. The region has a rainfall of between 1,500mm and 2,000mm a year. In addition the farmers will receive a five-year tax holiday and can bring in their equipment duty-free.
Rall said they will also receive much better prices for their maize than currently in South Africa. “There is a formula to calculate the price, but I can tell you the price we are negotiating at this stage is much, much higher than the South African maize price,” he said. Production costs in the Congo are also expected to be much lower than in South Africa.
Congo Agriculture is ideally looking for farmers to run their operations in the Congo as an extension of their businesses in South Africa. “It would be very difficult for a guy to go up on his own there, without capital or without the necessary back-up support from home,” Rall noted.
Steering clear of past mistakes
Africa’s agriculture sector is currently receiving a lot of interest from all over the world, but setting up operations on the continent does involve a degree of risk. Some of the Zimbabwean farmers who in 2004 were invited to start with commercial agriculture in Kwara State, Nigeria had to wait many years for promises of electricity and irrigation. They are also facing challenges to get financing from the banks.
“Irrigation is key to our project but there have been many delays in this area. The promise of a constant electricity supply has not yet materialised, although there are many electrical poles and wires on our farm. Finance is also still a problem. We battle to get the financial institutions to understand the concept of short-, medium- and long-term loans and the real need to have finance before the rainy season starts,” one of the farmers told How we made it in Africa in an interview last year.
Rall is, however, determined to take a cautious approach and not make the same mistakes as other South African farmers that ventured into the rest of the continent. “There are too many disasters that happened in the past in Africa where farmers lost everything, they had to come back home with nothing,” he said.
“It is very important . . . that whatever we do, we take small steps. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes in the past that happened all over Africa,” Rall added.
A number of trade and investment protection agreements signed between the two countries’ respective governments, Agri SA and the farmers should offer some security. “We have five agreements, which have been ratified by both countries’ parliaments. If something goes wrong there, you can come and open a case in Pretoria to protect your property up there,” Rall explained.
African farmland to Indian firms no cause for worry: UN official
IANS | 13 February 2011
Youba Sokona, Coordinator at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) A top official at UN agencies has sought to allay apprehensions among people of some African countries that propose to lease farmland to investors from countries like India to mutually secure food supplies under South-South cooperation.
UN officials also say the rich countries must play a more meaningful role in addressing concerns over climate change in the African continent, assessed to need $25 billion in funding, with support also coming in from emerging economies like India and China.
'Concerns over land are just an apprehension. Land is allocated to serious investors and they are helping in the development of the respective regions. There is no free lunch,' said Youba Sokona, coordinator at the United Nations Economic Commission.
'People are investing money to get good returns. This engagement is important to ensure food security and also boost economic growth in Africa,' Sokona, who is from Ethiopia and oversees climate change policy in Africa, told IANS in an interview.
'Africa is importing a lot of food despite availability of fertile land and water. What we need is know-how and investment. This is coming largely from India and China and we are also comfortable working with the two countries,' he said during an official visit here.
Ethiopia, for example, has offered to Indian investors 1.8 million hectares of farmland, equalling 40 percent of the total area of the principal grain-growing state of Punjab, in what could give a big push to the country's food security.
The senior UN official said African countries were also looking for technology transfer from developing nations like India and China to deal with issues of poverty and climate challenge that can be mutually beneficial.
'South-South cooperation is very important. Our challenges are similar. We will be more comfortable tackling it together. We're looking for technology transfer, not technology dumping,' Sokona said.
'Most technologies offered from North American and European countries are not suitable in our countries. But Indian and Chinese technologies and know-how can be comfortably implemented in the African countries.'
According to Anthony Nyong, who oversees the compliance and safeguards division of the African Development Bank, said developed countries, which have been the main polluters in the past, must pay the most to tackle the challenges of environment degradation.
'We (the least developed countries - LDCs) add only three percent to the total global green house gas emission while we bear the maximum brunt of it. Yet, there is a huge financing gap,' Nyong told IANS.
'Just to fund current programmes we need some $25 billion. But only $700-million funding is available,' Nyong said, adding: 'We have the commitment and the expertise to address these issues related to environment. But there is a big problem of financing.'
(Gyanendra Kumar Keshri can be reached at gyanendra.k@ians.in)
Youba Sokona, Coordinator at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) A top official at UN agencies has sought to allay apprehensions among people of some African countries that propose to lease farmland to investors from countries like India to mutually secure food supplies under South-South cooperation.
UN officials also say the rich countries must play a more meaningful role in addressing concerns over climate change in the African continent, assessed to need $25 billion in funding, with support also coming in from emerging economies like India and China.
'Concerns over land are just an apprehension. Land is allocated to serious investors and they are helping in the development of the respective regions. There is no free lunch,' said Youba Sokona, coordinator at the United Nations Economic Commission.
'People are investing money to get good returns. This engagement is important to ensure food security and also boost economic growth in Africa,' Sokona, who is from Ethiopia and oversees climate change policy in Africa, told IANS in an interview.
'Africa is importing a lot of food despite availability of fertile land and water. What we need is know-how and investment. This is coming largely from India and China and we are also comfortable working with the two countries,' he said during an official visit here.
Ethiopia, for example, has offered to Indian investors 1.8 million hectares of farmland, equalling 40 percent of the total area of the principal grain-growing state of Punjab, in what could give a big push to the country's food security.
The senior UN official said African countries were also looking for technology transfer from developing nations like India and China to deal with issues of poverty and climate challenge that can be mutually beneficial.
'South-South cooperation is very important. Our challenges are similar. We will be more comfortable tackling it together. We're looking for technology transfer, not technology dumping,' Sokona said.
'Most technologies offered from North American and European countries are not suitable in our countries. But Indian and Chinese technologies and know-how can be comfortably implemented in the African countries.'
According to Anthony Nyong, who oversees the compliance and safeguards division of the African Development Bank, said developed countries, which have been the main polluters in the past, must pay the most to tackle the challenges of environment degradation.
'We (the least developed countries - LDCs) add only three percent to the total global green house gas emission while we bear the maximum brunt of it. Yet, there is a huge financing gap,' Nyong told IANS.
'Just to fund current programmes we need some $25 billion. But only $700-million funding is available,' Nyong said, adding: 'We have the commitment and the expertise to address these issues related to environment. But there is a big problem of financing.'
(Gyanendra Kumar Keshri can be reached at gyanendra.k@ians.in)
Rising world food prices may soon hit Africa hard, but could be a future boon
Christian Science Monitor | 16 February 2011 By Scott Baldauf
Johannesburg, South Africa
Global food prices reached a historic high last month, a fact that may cause even the most comfortable of Americans to cinch in their belts and cut back on spending.
"Global food prices are rising to dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people around the world," World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday as he announced the bank's findings that about 44 million people in developing countries have been pushed into poverty since last June because of rising food prices.
Here in Africa, where many people spend as much as 60 to 80 percent of their income on food, higher food prices don’t mean cutting costs. They mean spending the same amount for less food. In a word: hunger. But that's the short term.
In the longer term, a sustained global trend of rising food prices – caused in part by growing demand from China and in part by crop failures in Russia, Pakistan, Australia, and Sri Lanka – may have generated more investment in the poor but agriculturally rich nations of Africa, spurring on better food production and better food security for both Africa and the West.
“Over the long term, it’s going to be a period of high prices,” says Yvonne Mhango, an economist for the Renaissance Capital economic forecasting firm in Johannesburg, South Africa. “With the growth of the middle class in China, and growing consumption, that trend is going to encourage investment in food production, especially in Africa, which is more sparsely populated and with access to water sources.”
In theory, more investment in African agriculture is a good thing, because it creates jobs and increases the amount of food available in the global market, thereby lowering prices. But there are good land deals that ensure a portion of the food grown in a country remains in that country, and there are bad deals that don’t, says Ms. Mhango.
“Whether or not [new agribusiness investment] benefits Africa depends on leadership and the deals that are struck between countries and the investors,” says Mhango.
Short-term challenges
For the short term, however, higher food prices are likely to mean suffering for the world’s poor.
According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food prices in December reached their highest level, topping even the 30-year highs of 2008. The FAO’s Food Price Index showed increases in all areas, including food grains, although the greatest increases were in sugars, oils, and fats. The benchmark price of US wheat rose 50 percent compared with the same time last year, while the price for corn (a common food staple in Africa) was 45 percent higher than last year.
Given how little margin many rural and urban poor African citizens have for survival, rising food prices can often have political ramifications, a fact that the former president of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana learned in March 2009. Mr. Ravalomanana was overthrown in a bloodless coup d’etat, after an agricultural land deal with Korean conglomerate Daewoo came to light. The deal would have given Daewoo a 99 year lease on nearly 50 percent of Madagascar’s arable lands, with all of the produce being exported to South Korea.
Rising food prices may have also exacerbated the political tensions in the North African countries of Tunisia and Egypt, where citizen revolts ultimately toppled their long-ruling authoritarian governments.
Here in South Africa, bread prices have risen 24 percent over the past year and 61 percent over the past three years, according to the Sunday Times newspaper in Johannesburg. Bread is a staple food for many working-poor South Africans, often the only source of food for the midday meal.
The problem of high food prices is worse, of course, in those areas where the transportation of food is restricted by conflict. In the East African nation of Somalia, maize prices were 79 percent higher than last year and sorghum prices were 81 percent higher, a staggering fact when one considers that Somalia is flooded with foreign-donated food aid, and that more than half of the Somali population relies almost entirely on (free) food donations.
Urban poor to be hit hardest
“Those who are hit the hardest are going to be the urban poor,” says Mhango. “The rural people will be able to eat whatever excess they have produced, and they'll manage to scrape by. But ... in the slums ... where you can’t grow food because of the intense congestion, people are likely to have a much harder time.”
“That is going to be increasingly difficult in an election year like this one,” she adds, referring to the fact that some 30 African countries are scheduled to hold elections over the next 12 months. “Higher food prices can become a political issue.”
Johannesburg, South Africa
Global food prices reached a historic high last month, a fact that may cause even the most comfortable of Americans to cinch in their belts and cut back on spending.
"Global food prices are rising to dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people around the world," World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday as he announced the bank's findings that about 44 million people in developing countries have been pushed into poverty since last June because of rising food prices.
Here in Africa, where many people spend as much as 60 to 80 percent of their income on food, higher food prices don’t mean cutting costs. They mean spending the same amount for less food. In a word: hunger. But that's the short term.
In the longer term, a sustained global trend of rising food prices – caused in part by growing demand from China and in part by crop failures in Russia, Pakistan, Australia, and Sri Lanka – may have generated more investment in the poor but agriculturally rich nations of Africa, spurring on better food production and better food security for both Africa and the West.
“Over the long term, it’s going to be a period of high prices,” says Yvonne Mhango, an economist for the Renaissance Capital economic forecasting firm in Johannesburg, South Africa. “With the growth of the middle class in China, and growing consumption, that trend is going to encourage investment in food production, especially in Africa, which is more sparsely populated and with access to water sources.”
In theory, more investment in African agriculture is a good thing, because it creates jobs and increases the amount of food available in the global market, thereby lowering prices. But there are good land deals that ensure a portion of the food grown in a country remains in that country, and there are bad deals that don’t, says Ms. Mhango.
“Whether or not [new agribusiness investment] benefits Africa depends on leadership and the deals that are struck between countries and the investors,” says Mhango.
Short-term challenges
For the short term, however, higher food prices are likely to mean suffering for the world’s poor.
According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food prices in December reached their highest level, topping even the 30-year highs of 2008. The FAO’s Food Price Index showed increases in all areas, including food grains, although the greatest increases were in sugars, oils, and fats. The benchmark price of US wheat rose 50 percent compared with the same time last year, while the price for corn (a common food staple in Africa) was 45 percent higher than last year.
Given how little margin many rural and urban poor African citizens have for survival, rising food prices can often have political ramifications, a fact that the former president of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana learned in March 2009. Mr. Ravalomanana was overthrown in a bloodless coup d’etat, after an agricultural land deal with Korean conglomerate Daewoo came to light. The deal would have given Daewoo a 99 year lease on nearly 50 percent of Madagascar’s arable lands, with all of the produce being exported to South Korea.
Rising food prices may have also exacerbated the political tensions in the North African countries of Tunisia and Egypt, where citizen revolts ultimately toppled their long-ruling authoritarian governments.
Here in South Africa, bread prices have risen 24 percent over the past year and 61 percent over the past three years, according to the Sunday Times newspaper in Johannesburg. Bread is a staple food for many working-poor South Africans, often the only source of food for the midday meal.
The problem of high food prices is worse, of course, in those areas where the transportation of food is restricted by conflict. In the East African nation of Somalia, maize prices were 79 percent higher than last year and sorghum prices were 81 percent higher, a staggering fact when one considers that Somalia is flooded with foreign-donated food aid, and that more than half of the Somali population relies almost entirely on (free) food donations.
Urban poor to be hit hardest
“Those who are hit the hardest are going to be the urban poor,” says Mhango. “The rural people will be able to eat whatever excess they have produced, and they'll manage to scrape by. But ... in the slums ... where you can’t grow food because of the intense congestion, people are likely to have a much harder time.”
“That is going to be increasingly difficult in an election year like this one,” she adds, referring to the fact that some 30 African countries are scheduled to hold elections over the next 12 months. “Higher food prices can become a political issue.”
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