Whether they are democracies or dictatorships, governments respond to power, money and influence. So if you are the minister of water and development or agriculture, or trade, and have 10,000 peasants practicing subsistence farming on 50,000 acres of prime, fertile, rain-fed land in your country (zero tax dollars) why on earth wouldn't you lease that same land to a visiting Kuwaiti emir for $5-10m in forex revenue. "Land grab"? No, Stella, I suspect the more accurate term would be 'rain and land gift'.
