ABSTRACT
For Karuturi, the long-term lease of large swathes of arable land represents a leap from its leadership in fl oriculture into the company of the global giants of integrated agricultural production. The Bangalore-based company, which mainly
produces roses for the European market, has been present for years in Africa, but ‘the acquisition of large tracts of land in Ethiopia – one can read on the company website – has set the stage for us to become a complete agriculture production company. Our goal now is to make a signifi cant contribution to alleviate the global and African food crisis.’3 In Gambella, Karuturi has already invested over 100 million USD and promises to bring jobs and infrastructure, new technologies and an effi cient model for the production of foodstuffs intended primarily for the local market, building roads and bringing in essential services and building, close to what promises to be one of the largest farms in Africa, a city of 15,000 inhabitants.
