Nov 17, 2009

ROME (Reuters) - The pace at which investors in richer countries have been buying farmland in developing nations has slowed with the fall in food prices this year from peaks hit in 2008, United Nations farming experts said on Tuesday.

The surge in food prices fuelled large-scale purchases of farmland by rich countries including Gulf Arab states, a trend that drew criticism for harming the interests of local people.

Now the drop in food and agriculture commodities prices, their volatility and the bad publicity the land acquisitions generated is putting off buyers, especially short-term investors, U.N. food and farm agencies experts said at an international food security forum.

"Those who have been targeting food production may be reducing (investments) now," Jean-Philippe Audinet, acting director of policy division at the U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), told Reuters at the forum.

"Maybe some of them don't want to take this political risk, reputational risk and economic risk," Audinet said.

Under increasing pressure from critics for limiting land access for local farmers in poor countries, investors have been turning to other ways to ensuring steady supplies, David Hallam, deputy director of trade and markets division at U.N. Food and Agriculture (FAO) told reporters.

Such alternatives to what critics describe as "land grabs" have included setting up joint ventures or reaching long-term supply deals, Hallam said.

U.N. experts said they did not have precise data on the slow down in large-scale investments in foreign land and cited information from private investors and international institutions such as the World Bank.