Summary

Chapter 7, "Farmland Grab," opens with the author traveling to South Sudan to meet with Phil Heilberg, a former AIG trader from Wall Street who is now working with General Paulino Matip, deputy commander of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. As a result of the food crisis that preceded the 2008 financial crisis, Heilberg and others have been buying up massive amounts of land in Sudan and other countries like Ethiopia, the Ukraine, and Brazil. Heilberg is now here to get signatures enabling him to buy even more land. Although people whispered that it was illegal, in reality the government could proceed with the transaction if it pleased. Heilberg and his company named Jarch planned to farm the land with joint-venture partners and to sell crops locally before selling internationally. There was a large local market because Sudan and neighboring countries had been...