Growing Potential

The Middle East is looking for new places to expand in the agriculture industry. After an Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) meeting, they are searching for the best places to invest in foreign farmland. In recent years, buying foreign farmland has been especially appealing to Middle Eastern energy companies who have a lot of capital but not a lot of land.

The agriculture industry has gone through some big changes in the past few years. World cereal prices peaked two years ago, and with it so did foreign investment in developing country’s farmland. However, there has been a recent drop in world cereal prices. Because of this many have been more cautious with investing in land, but the Middle Eastern countries still have high hopes for the future of this land.

The Middle East has already begun to invest in Egypt and Sudan, and hope to continue to into Algeria and other developing countries, especially in Africa. Algeria is one of the main countries that has a lot of potential for future growth. Libya also has begun to invest in foreign farmland. They have acquired land in Sudan, Mali, and Ukraine and plan to continue on into other promising eastern European countries.

The cereal market may look grim now, but the Middle East is confident that prices will rise in the next few years. With these countries investing so much money in developing country's farmland, it should lead to international growth in the industry and these big investments paying off.