The chairman of Saudi Arabia's Commerce and Industry Chambers Council, Mohamed Abdulkader al-Fadel, has revealed that Saudi investors have launched agricultural projects in Indonesia worth $1.3 billion last year.

The announcement comes a week after Indonesia announced that it would be allocating at least 2 million hectares (4.94 million acres) of farmland to joint ventures with Saudi investors to be used mainly to cultivate rice. 

Indonesia is among countries prospected by Saudi investors under a government-sponsored push for agricultural investment outside the kingdom to secure food supplies. The countries also include Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, the Philippines and Turkey.

Saudi Arabia, among the world's top ten rice importers, said in January it had received the first batch of rice produced abroad by local investors.