Middle East Eye | 5 October 2016
A farmer harvests wheat in a field in the Tabuk region, some 1,500 km northwest of the Saudi capital Riyadh, on 7 April 2016 (Photo: AFP)
After food costs spike, Saudis spent billions buying up farm land around the world. Who benefits exactly and can the spree continue?
They control rice farms in Ethiopia, Sudan and the Philippines, cattle ranches in California and Arizona, wheat fields in Ukraine and Poland, ranches in Argentina and Brazil and shrimp producers in Mauritania. In 2008, King Abdullah launched his “Initiative for Saudi Agricultural Investment Abroad,” urging Saudis to go overseas and buy land. Saudi investors – both state and private – have since gone on a global shopping spree, spending billions of dollars buying up or leasing large tracts of land around the world.