Savers have never had it so good. Easy-access accounts are paying more than 6 per cent and you can even earn 10% in several offbeat schemes.

They are in some cases taking higher risks than savings accounts to pay such a high return, but in other cases – such as National Savings & Investments – your money is about as safe as it is going to get.

We outline the deals.

1 Buy an Argentine soya farm

One of the more unusual ways to earn 10% is to take a stake in an Argentine soya bean farm which hopes to tap into growing demand for biofuels, a substitute for petrol made from crops.

Movewithus, a property firm, is launching a scheme tomorrow that allows investors to buy 2.5hectare plots on the “pampas” – the vast fertile plains that cover a large part of Argen-tina. The land will be used to grow soya beans as well as other crops in rotation such as wheat and corn. Some will be sold for food; others will be turned into biofuels. The everyday management will be overseen by South American Asset Management (SAAM), an Argentine fund manager.

There are 400 plots on offer, each costing £10,000. If you hold the investment for 10 years, SAAM is contracted to pay you a rent of 10 per cent a year, annually in arrears. If you invested £10,000 you would get £10,000 in rent after 10 years. It also promises 150 per cent of your original investment – your original £10,000 plus an extra £5,000 on top – if you hold for the 10-year term.

Robin King of Movewithus said: “The only situation in which it wouldn’t be paid is if SAAM went bust and reneged on the contract. If that occured we would seek to release the land.”

Investors can also get out after five years and receive 120 per cent of their original investment.

The fund manager is prepared to sign up to pay 10 per cent a year because biofuels are one of the biggest buzzwords in investment at the moment.

However, advisers urge caution. Adrian Shandley at Premier Wealth Management said: “I’d want an even bigger return to compensate for the risk.”

2 Lend to the government

National Savings & Investments (NS&I), the government’s savings agency, offers among the best deals for higher-rate taxpayers.

Its cash Isa pays 6.3 per cent tax-free, which is equivalent to 10.5 per cent gross for higher-rate taxpayers with no risk to your capital.

NS&I’s index-linked savings certificates pay the equivalent of 9.41 per cent – not quite 10 per cent but nearly there.Savings certificates are available for three and five-year terms and the index-linked variety pays a fixed return above inflation. Both versions are paying the retail prices index (currently 4.3 per cent) plus 1.35 per cent – or 5.65 per cent. Returns are tax-free, so this is equivalent to 9.41 per cent gross for top-rate taxpayers. You can invest £15,000 in each issue.

3 Invest in death futures

Funds that invest in life policies bought from old or dying people have a chequered history. In 2005 Shepherds, a fund manager that specialised in “death futures”, collapsed leaving investors with big losses.

However, providers claim to have learnt from its mistakes, and Catalyst Investment Group has a scheme that offers returns of 10% a year if you tie up your money for 10 years.

The fund manager buys US life policies from elderly individuals. The owners of such policies benefit by receiving a lump sum to spend before death. The purchaser profits by banking the full payout when the policyholder eventually dies. The schemes offer relatively stable returns because the manager knows how much the eventual payout will be, but the risk is that the original policyholder dies later than expected. Catalyst is shouldering this risk, but it says that returns are not guaranteed.

Justin Modray at Bestinvest, an adviser, said: “Traded US life policies are a sensible asset class to hold, but I prefer a scheme called The Assured Fund because you are not tied in for a fixed term, and it has also returned 10%.”

4 Bet on Europe’s biggest firms

The Close European Accelerated Return fund is a protected scheme which advisers believe will offer a fairly reliable return equivalent to 9.5 per cent a year. Unlike traditional protected funds, in which you have to invest at launch, you can buy into it at any time.

The fund has a six-year life and promises to pay out five times the growth of the EuroStoxx 50 index, which covers Europe’s biggest companies. The return is capped at 67.5 per cent.

The index was at 3,302 when the fund was launched two years ago, which means that, to get the maximum return in July 2011, the index would have to be at 3,749 or above. Last week it finished at 4,543.

If you had bought at issue, your return would be 9 per cent a year; if you buy now, you would get 9.5 per cent if the index stays above 3,749. Even if the stock market collapsed, you would still get back your initial investment as long as it doesn’t fall by more than 50 per cent from the initial level – to under 1,651.

5 Invest in mortgage borrowers

This sounds like a risky strategy given the problems in the American sub-prime mortgage market, but the European Equity Tranche fund invests in European “prime” mortgages – loans thought to have a low risk of default.

The fund, managed by Ocean Capital Associates and listed on the Alternative Investment Market, buys the mortgages from lenders and then sells them on to investors. The loan repayments are basically your return.

The fund is currently yielding 8 per cent to 10 per cent depending on what type of mortgages it buys.

Mick Gilligan of Killik, a stockbroker, said: “The managers have focused on quality and don’t have any investments in the sub-prime market. Loan-to-value ratios of the underlying mortgages are typically 70-80 per cent, which provides a cushion if house prices fall.”

While risky, this might be of interest to a contrarian who feels fears about mortgage debt markets are overdone.

The fund is not regulated by the Financial Services Authority because it is based in the Channel Islands, so investors cannot complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. However, it is covered by the London Stock Exchange’s listing rules.