[OPE] Food security and international production

The Philippines, no longer able to count on rice from the world market when
it needs it, negotiated a three-year deal with Vietnam for a guaranteed 1.5
million tons of rice each year. Other importers are seeking similar
arrangements. Food import anxiety is also spawning an entirely new genre of
trade agreements as food-importing countries seek to buy or lease large
blocks of land to farm in other countries. Libya, which imports close to 90
percent of its grain and is understandably anxious about access to supplies,
has leased 250,000 acres of land in Ukraine to grow wheat for its own people
in exchange for access to one of its oil fields. Egypt is seeking similar
land acquisition in Ukraine in exchange for access to its natural gas. China
has the most ambitious "farming abroad" goals of all: In 2007 the country
signed a memorandum of understanding to farm 2.5 million acres in the
Philippines, an area equal to roughly 10 percent of that country's farmland.
But this agreement, quietly entered into by government officials, was later
abandoned by Manila as rice supplies tightened and as local farmers voiced
concern. China is now looking for long-term leases of land in other
countries, including Australia, Russia, and Brazil
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,606937,00.html

E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.362)
Database version: 5.10260
http://www.pctools.com/uk/spyware-doctor-antivirus/
_______________________________________________
ope mailing list
ope@lists.csuchico.edu
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
Received on Sat May 30 06:04:52 2009