Long of little interest to outsiders, African land has been rarely associated with financial reward.

But for investors like Susan Payne, the chief executive of Emergent Asset Management, farmland in sub-Saharan Africa is a hot bet.

Population increase, changes in eating habits and demand for bio-fuels are putting farmland at a premium worldwide.

“And African farmland prices are the lowest in the world,” she says.

Her fund is in the process of buying or leasing a total 50,000 hectares, equal to roughly 80,000 football pitches, in several African countries including Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Angola, Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo

via BBC NEWS | Business | Africa investment sparks land grab fear.