What is the true extent of these overseas investment in large scale farming?

CAIRO - The Egyptian government is hoping to cultivate wheat and other cereals on fertile land in African countries to feed its growing population of over 80 million.

In early September it signed a deal with the Sudanese government to give Egyptian companies access to Sudanese farmland.

“Growing essential crops like wheat in other water-rich African countries where fertile land is in abundance is an important solution,” said Ayman Farid Abu Hadid, chairman of the state-run Agricultural Research Centre, which signed the deal on behalf of the Egyptian government. “Cultivating wheat in other African countries will reduce the cost of imports.”

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