In Pictures
Major Trading Currencies
World Market Watch
Crude Oil
Management Tips
Listen to your customers, your employees, your suppliers, and anyone else who comes in contact with your business. Honestly evaluate what they have to say, without letting your ego get in the way, and you will probably learn something that benefits your business.
- General News
- ICT
- Tourism
- Insurance
- Investment
- Oil And Gas
- Politics
- Sports
- Feature Articles
- Editorials/Opinion
- Entertainment
- Africa/International
You Are Here: Home » Investment, Lead Story » Indian companies acquire land in Ghana, other African countries for commercial farming
Companies from India, including those not into farming are now leasing land in Ghana and other African countries for farming.
The Indian business community is following in the steps of one of its contemporaries who ventured into farming on the continent and succeeded, The Economic Times of India has reported. Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, a Bangalore businessman acquired land in Ethiopia and Kenya to grow roses and he has become so successful the Indian media describe him as the biggest rose grower in the world.
According to the report there are roughly about 70 Indian companies which are already in the process of making a foray into the farming sector in Africa. The countries which offer big opportunities include Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, Congo, Rwanda and Ghana, it added.
The Tata group has been given a land lease in Uganda to run a pilot agricultural project, while the Jaipurias of RJ Corp have a lease of a 50-acre model dairy farm. The latter is already active in dairy products in African markets such as Uganda and Kenya, the report said.
Construction major Shapoorji Pallonji & Co has acquired the lease for 50,000 hectares of land in Ethiopia and may look at agricultural projects in future. And it’s not just large Indian companies, small and medium enterprises in sectors ranging from spices and tea to chemicals are looking at entering the commercial agriculture space in Africa.
In March 2009 a ghanabusinessnews.com report said Indian companies were entering the biofuel sector in the country.
The Ghana subsidiary of an Indian company, the Mumbai-based Hazel Mercantile, a distributor of chemicals and petrochemical products was reported to be investing about $45 million to cultivate Jatropha to produce biofuel in Ghana. The Indian companies were said to be requesting for about 50,000 hectares of land.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
| 
| Tweet This! |