14/12/2009
RIYADH, Dec 13, 2009
Major oil exporter Saudi Arabia sees progress in talks with various African countries to invest into farmland as part of a food security plan, a government minister said on Sunday.
Food security has topped the policy agenda in the Gulf Arab region following rampant inflation in 2008 that underscored the peninsula's dependence on imports and forced countries to invest abroad to ensure supplies of staples like rice and wheat.
In April, Saudi Arabia set up a company with capital of 3 billion riyals ($800 million) to invest in farmland abroad, focussing on wheat, rice, sugar and soybeans. ]
"Some progress has been achieved with some African countries" to create farmland investment opportunities, Industry & Trade Minister Abdullah bin Ahmad Zainal said according to state news agency SPA.
He added more talks would be held with countries in southern and eastern Africa, without being more specific.
Saudi Arabia has urged companies to invest in farm projects abroad after deciding last year to reduce wheat production by 12.5 percent per year, abandoning a 30-year-old programme to grow its own, which depleted the desert kingdom's scarce water supplies.
State-owned Saudi Industrial Development Fund is granting financing facilities to firms exploring agricultural investments abroad. Several Saudi firms also launched farmland investment abroad ranging from Indonesia to Ethiopia.
