What's new

Ethiopia offers India farmland for investment

The HBS Guy

SENIOR MEMBER
Oct 31, 2010
2,587
0
1,781
Ethiopia offers India farmland for investment

NEW DELHI: In what could give a big boost to India's efforts at food security, Ethiopia has offered 1.8 million hectares of its farmland to Indian investors that equals nearly 40 percent of the total area of the principal grain-growing state of Punjab.

"So far we have transferred 307,000 hectares of land to foreign and domestic investors. Some 79 percent of this land has been transferred to Indian companies. This land is made available on a 70-year lease," said visiting Ethiopian Agriculture Minister Tefera Derbew .

"We are now proposing to transfer another 3.6 million hectares of land to investors from overseas. And I am confident that more than half of the 3.6 million hectares land will go to Indians," Derbew, who is here on a three-day official visit, told IANS in an interview.

The land offered by the East African nation, at the horn of the continent, equals nearly 50 percent of the cultivable land of Punjab, often called India's granary, accounting for 23 percent of its wheat and 10 percent of paddy output.

"How much land will actually go to Indian investors depends entirely on the interest of investors. If they come and take all the land, then also we will be very happy. Indian investors are very welcome in Ethiopia," Derbew said.

According to the visiting minister, Indian investors have so far committed $4.7 billion investment in Ethiopia and most of it related to the farm sector. He said the investment
was going to rise sharply in the coming years with interests arising in mining as well.

Indian firms have interests in cotton, palm oil, rubber, oilseeds and horticulture.

Derbew said an Indian company was in the process of getting 100,000 hectares of land for sugarcane production. "India has expertise in sugar. We are in talks with several Indian companies to help develop the sugar industry in our country."

Officials here identified the company as Karuturi Global, one of the largest global players in the organised floriculture industry. The investments planned, they added, could go up to over $100 million for a sugarcane crushing and processing unit in Ethiopia.

The minister said the trade balance, which was hugely skewed towards India , would tilt in Ethiopia's favour once the projects materialise. "Our bilateral trade is over $500 million. But most of it are Indian exports. Our exports are negligible."

He said there was also scope for Ethiopia to export potassic fertiliser to India.

Derbew said his government had also liberalised the norms for allocation of land for all major infrastructure projects, including those for roadways and railways, and was in talks with several Indian companies in this regard.

"We target to build over 2,000 km of rail link in the next five years. Similarly, there is also a huge investment potential for road infrastructure," said Derbew, adding: "We hope Indian companies will take advantage of this opportunity as well."

Ethiopia offers India farmland for investment - The Economic Times
 
Any farm lands which allows off- season cultivation in regards to the north east and south west monsoons are good for food security.. The question now is how much of cultivatable land is there in Ethiopia?
 
Any farm lands which allows off- season cultivation in regards to the north east and south west monsoons are good for food security.. The question now is how much of cultivatable land is there in Ethiopia?

I have read somewhere that only 1% of cultivatable land in Ethiopia is being used. You know about Rama Krishna Karuturi right? The largest rose producer of the world. His company has about 330000 hectares in that country. He produces flowers, oil seeds etc there. He leased them for 100 years.

Farm rates are actually very cheap. He leased them at $10 per hectare for 100 years. It can't get any cheaper than that any where.


YouTube - Karuturi Global in Ethiopia
 
Last edited:
Stealing land from poor ethopian kids , I would provide 10 billion for free to Ethopia but CAPATALIST , oh well lets see where that leads to


Azad bahi, isi post ka intazaar tha..

Hazaroon saal ik post ka intezar kartay howay lag gai,
Likin wo (post) hoti hai saloon mein aik hi bar post..



Don't mind, nothing personal--no offence!
 
Stealing land from poor ethopian kids , I would provide 10 billion for free to Ethopia but CAPATALIST , oh well lets see where that leads to

I guess you would think the same about Chinese investments in African countries... We are investing and will provide our expertise to develop the poor country...
 
Stealing land from poor ethopian kids , I would provide 10 billion for free to Ethopia but CAPATALIST , oh well lets see where that leads to

I doubt you care about Ethopian kids to begin with and if Pakistan was doing the same thing you wouldn't have said the same. This is fair game, nothing is being stolen they are getting the payment.
 
Let's ignore the envious Pakistani posters here and stick to the topic. Their concern should be how much of their land in FATA will be "leased" to NATO and Afghanistan. But that is off topic so let's leave it there.

Africa has great potential for investment. On a global scale it is still a "virgin market". Past civil wars made the European and Western nations write off Africa as a basket case, unworthy of investment. Much of the natural resources of Africa remains untapped. China and India have realised this and are in the doorway to Africa.

Ethopia. Once known in Africa as the "starving child" this nation has some of the most arable land in Africa. Sadly hundreds of thousands perished in famine due to inability or lack of understanding of commercial agricultural requirements by that population and political instability in the country. Ethopia houses a large portion of the Nile waters. Our company in Botswana uses certain parts of Ethopia as a manufacturing basin due to the cheap costs of producing electricity in that countryIf India is offered the deal set out in this report then Indians must rush to get in. Africa overall is a cheap source of investment with high returns. Ethopia and most parts of Africa have stable governments who look to the best interests of their people.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 2, Members: 0, Guests: 2)


Pakistan Defence Latest Posts

Back
Top Bottom