Kuwait joins investors seeking taste of Asia

A state-affiliated Kuwaiti company is set to join a growing list of entities from the oil-rich Gulf looking at investments in Asian agricultural land.

Ahmad al-Hamad, managing director of the Kuwait China Investment Company (KCIC), said it was considering investing in agribusinesses and in farms producing crops such as rice, wheat, corn and sorghum.

The purchase of overseas farmland – especially in Africa – by wealthy countries has become controversial over the past 18 months as food security has moved up the political agenda. Partly to address that, G8 leaders are on Friday expected to announce a “food security initiative”, committing more than $12bn (€8.5bn, £7.3bn) over the next three years to combat hunger in the developing world.