Africa

Though the continent has a long way to go regarding infrastructure, for some time investors and countries have been interested in African agriculture. I am aware of several efforts by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to unleash some of the potential of Africa as a major biofuel, livestock, timber, cereal grains, and fruits and vegetables producer.

I think Indonesia and other areas in S.E. Asia also have potential to further develop agriculture.

This extremely interesting article in the WSJ outlines some of the private investment opportunities:

Henshaw, Caroline, 2010. Private sector interest grows in african farming. The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 29.

From the article, an amazing statistic:

"To meet growing global food demand the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates an extra six million hectares need to be brought under cultivation every year for the next 30 years. With sub-Saharan Africa estimated to hold up to 60% of the world's remaining uncultivated land suitable for farming, the region's agriculture is starting to look an interesting investment." bold added.

Further, less that 2% of African farmland has irrigation systems in place and yields are far below the world average.

There remain huge hurdles for Africa to overcome before it transforms into an agricultural power. However, I believe a combination of proper infrastructure investments and technology will prevail.

The future of the world depends on agriculture, water, and energy. At MIT we view these as interrelated and the opportunity for significant contributions in research and technological advancement.