Jim Rogers Sees African Farmland As ‘Fantastic Investor Opportunity’
Maria Bartiromo recently talked to Jim Rogers about a number of investment topics. The famous investor indicated that he’s predicting a dollar rally and gold correction, sees silver and palladium as good precious metals plays, is optimistic about agriculture among other commodities, and thinks African farmland is a “fantastic investor opportunity.” Here are some notable excerpts of the exchange between Bartiromo and Rogers which appeared on BusinessWeek’s website on November 25:
How much of the runup is being driven by U.S. deficits and the weakening dollar?
A huge amount is about not just U.S. deficits, but all deficits. Deficits are going berserk nearly everywhere. Throughout history, printing money has led to weaker currencies and higher prices for real assets. And there are many, many pessimists about the dollar, including me. So many pessimists that I suspect there’s a rally coming. I have no idea why there should be, but things do usually rally when you have this many bears at the same time. I’ve actually accumulated a few more dollars. I mean, it’s not a significant position, but I do own more dollars than I did a month ago. And we’ll probably also have a gold correction because there’s so many bulls on gold.
So you’re looking at other commodities you think are better opportunities?
If you want to buy precious metal, I’d rather buy silver or palladium. Both are very depressed. I continue to be more optimistic about agriculture than some other commodities.
As BusinessWeek reports this week, global investors are snapping up thousands of acres of farmland in Africa. Money from everywhere—from Saudi Arabia to Wall Street-backed funds—is pouring in. Why the sudden focus on Africa?
The gigantic acreage in Africa has been underfarmed because there is not much infrastructure, not much machinery, not much expertise, not much fertilizer. I think the world is going to have huge food problems in the next few years. Other people seem to see that, too, so they’re buying up farmland. You can either buy it or lease it. It’s very, very cheap, it’s incredibly fertile, and it hasn’t been overexploited. And if you take in some expertise and some machinery and some fertilizer, you should make a lot of money. The labor’s cheap, everything’s cheap.
So you think Africa is a good investment opportunity?
I think it’s a fantastic investor opportunity. Now there are over 50 countries in Africa, so we can’t make too gross a generalization. But I mean, in the Congo, you don’t even have to plant anything. You just sit by the road long enough, something will grow. Yes, I am very, very optimistic.
Source:
“Jim Rogers on Why Gold Is Glittering So Brightly”
Maria Bartiromo
BusinessWeek, November 25, 2009
