Land grab fears for Ethiopian rural communities
15 December, 2010 | By Ed Butler (BBC World Service)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A controversial new farms policy has led to a political
clampdown in a remote lowland region of Ethiopia, the BBC
has been told.
"You can be arrested or even killed for this.
"This is a dark period for all indigenous people living in the south-
west of the country."
Massive land lease
The government of Meles Zenawi is pioneering the lease of some
three million hectares of land over the next five years, an area the
size of Belgium.
The policy is targeting massive lowland areas mostly in the west and
south-west of the country.
These are regions populated by smaller minority ethnic groups.
The government denies conducting any repression, and says instead
that its policy is aimed at lifting local people out of poverty.
Birhani Fasaha, director of the Saudi Star Corporation, said the
country's planned investment in Ethiopia, as well as in a range of
other African countries, is a response to Saudi Arabian fears about
their own domestic food supply, following sharp rises in global food
prices two years ago.
"Saudi Arabia was importing all its food from India and Asia," said
Birhani Fasaha, "but the Indians withheld their rice in 2008, so the
Saudis want an option."
Ethiopia is just one of a number of African countries that have been
targeted by foreign agricultural investors.
Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sudan and Mali are among
the others that have received considerable interest.
Saudi Star aims to lease as much as 100,000 hectares of Ethiopian
land within the next four or five years, I'm told, and it promises to
bring clinics, schools, better roads and electricity supplies to
Gambella in return.
The current rental charge for this land is about $10 per hectare per
year.
Ancestral land
Rural communities feel uninformed about how the land lease plans
will change their lives The Ethiopian government stipulates that
foreign investors will have to satisfy domestic food needs before
they can export.
It also says it is only allocating idle land for investment.
However, local protesters insist that all the land is already in use,
mostly by pastoralists.
There are an estimated four million such farmers in Ethiopia, who
often cross hundreds of miles a year to find fresh pasture for their
cattle.
"They use the land for different purposes - for agriculture, for
hunting, sometimes just to gather fruits during famine," one protester
told me.
"There is no empty land in Gambella without a history.
"Village areas have been cleared and villagers have been bribed to
sell their own farm.
"They can't sell the land, it's not theirs. That land is ancestral land."
Development opportunity
Because all land in Ethiopia's quasi-socialist economy is officially
government-owned, it has the right to lease it out largely as it sees fit.
While some local farmers are being directly compensated,
pastoralist farmers are not.
The government believes that only massive foreign investment can
help to transform the country's rural economy, and provide the
country with food self-sufficiency.
Some 13 million Ethiopians still depend on some degree of food aid.
Abera Deressa, the government minister who helped design the
latest agricultural development policy, says foreign investors should
help boost agricultural output by as much as 40%.
He believes that rural life in these areas must change.
"Pastoralists have enough land for their cattle," Mr. Deressa told
me, "but at the end of the day we are not really appreciating
pastoralists remaining as they are.
"We have to improve their livelihood by creating job opportunities.
Pastoralism, as it is, is not sustainable. We want to change the
environment."
Mr Deressa told me how he hoped the investors would bring skills
and infrastructure to some of the most neglected regions as well as
thousands of jobs for the rural population.
The minister said that opposition to the government was based on
ignorance of the government's proposals.
Complex problem
However, concerns about the land policy go beyond the rights of
local farmers.
Environmentalists say that many of these proposed farms infringe on
Ethiopia's protected game reserves, where an abundance of wildlife
could now be at risk.
In Gambella most farms are being ear-marked for rice and sugar
production, two extremely water-intensive crops.
Yet the investors that I spoke to told me there were no limits being
placed on the amount of water they could draw from the rivers, in
regions already suffering from declining rainfalls.
The issue of land lease is a complex one and there is much
disagreement on the best approach.
According to the World Bank, who commissioned a study into land
lease, there is an estimated 45 million hectares of land that is either
already under lease or has been requested for lease.
And there are both positive and negative examples to be taken.
The report's author, Klaus Deinigerm, told me that the initiative has
had a considerable success rate in Latin America.
However, in Africa, the picture is less rosy.
"Many of these projects do not perform, and that implies that
possibly the arrangements are not optimal," said Mr Deiniger.
"It's very important to make sure that governments as well as civil
society have the right tools in place to ensure that the investments do
not cause harm and actually improve productivity."
In Ethiopia in particular, Mr Deiniger does not believe that land
lease is the best option for rural communities.
"It is an opportunity but it definitely won't be the main development
opportunity for its smallholder population... it can draw in some
private investment but it needs to be done in a strategic way rather
than letting investors determine the government strategy."
Ethiopia and other countries, he said, have ended up with a very
fragmented approach to land lease that fails to provide any
infrastructure benefits and is in contradiction to smallholder rights.
But back in Gambella, Ethiopia, it's the political and social cost that
is most concerning many local farmers.
The ruling party, the EPRDF, is said to govern with an increasingly
firm grip.
People in the country's remote south-west fear that their pastoralist
traditions, which have been a way of life for generations, could now
be forcibly brought to an end.
"There is a fear that there will be no more culture within the
pastoralist area," said one man.
"We're going to lose our culture and there will be nothing remaining
for the next generation. I'm afraid this life may only be a story that
we can tell our children."
Ed Butler's special edition of Business Daily from Ethiopia
runs on BBC World Service radio on 15 December.
Courtesy
15 December, 2010 | By Ed Butler (BBC World Service)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A controversial new farms policy has led to a political
clampdown in a remote lowland region of Ethiopia, the BBC
has been told.
- Opposition activists
claim that a number
of arrests and the
killings of 10 local
farmers are as a
direct result of the
new policy.
- "You cannot speak
freely about the land
issue now," one local
"You can be arrested or even killed for this.
"This is a dark period for all indigenous people living in the south-
west of the country."
Massive land lease
The government of Meles Zenawi is pioneering the lease of some
three million hectares of land over the next five years, an area the
size of Belgium.
The policy is targeting massive lowland areas mostly in the west and
south-west of the country.
These are regions populated by smaller minority ethnic groups.
The government denies conducting any repression, and says instead
that its policy is aimed at lifting local people out of poverty.
- Foreign investors in Gambella
include Chinese, Indian and Saudi
firms.
The Saudis alone say they are
hoping to produce as much as a
million tonnes of rice per year,
most of it for their own domestic
market.
Birhani Fasaha, director of the Saudi Star Corporation, said the
country's planned investment in Ethiopia, as well as in a range of
other African countries, is a response to Saudi Arabian fears about
their own domestic food supply, following sharp rises in global food
prices two years ago.
"Saudi Arabia was importing all its food from India and Asia," said
Birhani Fasaha, "but the Indians withheld their rice in 2008, so the
Saudis want an option."
Ethiopia is just one of a number of African countries that have been
targeted by foreign agricultural investors.
Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sudan and Mali are among
the others that have received considerable interest.
Saudi Star aims to lease as much as 100,000 hectares of Ethiopian
land within the next four or five years, I'm told, and it promises to
bring clinics, schools, better roads and electricity supplies to
Gambella in return.
The current rental charge for this land is about $10 per hectare per
year.
Ancestral land
Rural communities feel uninformed about how the land lease plans
will change their lives The Ethiopian government stipulates that
foreign investors will have to satisfy domestic food needs before
they can export.
It also says it is only allocating idle land for investment.
However, local protesters insist that all the land is already in use,
mostly by pastoralists.
There are an estimated four million such farmers in Ethiopia, who
often cross hundreds of miles a year to find fresh pasture for their
cattle.
"They use the land for different purposes - for agriculture, for
hunting, sometimes just to gather fruits during famine," one protester
told me.
"There is no empty land in Gambella without a history.
"Village areas have been cleared and villagers have been bribed to
sell their own farm.
"They can't sell the land, it's not theirs. That land is ancestral land."
Development opportunity
Because all land in Ethiopia's quasi-socialist economy is officially
government-owned, it has the right to lease it out largely as it sees fit.
While some local farmers are being directly compensated,
pastoralist farmers are not.
The government believes that only massive foreign investment can
help to transform the country's rural economy, and provide the
country with food self-sufficiency.
Some 13 million Ethiopians still depend on some degree of food aid.
Abera Deressa, the government minister who helped design the
latest agricultural development policy, says foreign investors should
help boost agricultural output by as much as 40%.
He believes that rural life in these areas must change.
"Pastoralists have enough land for their cattle," Mr. Deressa told
me, "but at the end of the day we are not really appreciating
pastoralists remaining as they are.
"We have to improve their livelihood by creating job opportunities.
Pastoralism, as it is, is not sustainable. We want to change the
environment."
Mr Deressa told me how he hoped the investors would bring skills
and infrastructure to some of the most neglected regions as well as
thousands of jobs for the rural population.
The minister said that opposition to the government was based on
ignorance of the government's proposals.
Complex problem
However, concerns about the land policy go beyond the rights of
local farmers.
Environmentalists say that many of these proposed farms infringe on
Ethiopia's protected game reserves, where an abundance of wildlife
could now be at risk.
In Gambella most farms are being ear-marked for rice and sugar
production, two extremely water-intensive crops.
Yet the investors that I spoke to told me there were no limits being
placed on the amount of water they could draw from the rivers, in
regions already suffering from declining rainfalls.
The issue of land lease is a complex one and there is much
disagreement on the best approach.
According to the World Bank, who commissioned a study into land
lease, there is an estimated 45 million hectares of land that is either
already under lease or has been requested for lease.
And there are both positive and negative examples to be taken.
The report's author, Klaus Deinigerm, told me that the initiative has
had a considerable success rate in Latin America.
However, in Africa, the picture is less rosy.
"Many of these projects do not perform, and that implies that
possibly the arrangements are not optimal," said Mr Deiniger.
"It's very important to make sure that governments as well as civil
society have the right tools in place to ensure that the investments do
not cause harm and actually improve productivity."
In Ethiopia in particular, Mr Deiniger does not believe that land
lease is the best option for rural communities.
"It is an opportunity but it definitely won't be the main development
opportunity for its smallholder population... it can draw in some
private investment but it needs to be done in a strategic way rather
than letting investors determine the government strategy."
Ethiopia and other countries, he said, have ended up with a very
fragmented approach to land lease that fails to provide any
infrastructure benefits and is in contradiction to smallholder rights.
But back in Gambella, Ethiopia, it's the political and social cost that
is most concerning many local farmers.
The ruling party, the EPRDF, is said to govern with an increasingly
firm grip.
People in the country's remote south-west fear that their pastoralist
traditions, which have been a way of life for generations, could now
be forcibly brought to an end.
"There is a fear that there will be no more culture within the
pastoralist area," said one man.
"We're going to lose our culture and there will be nothing remaining
for the next generation. I'm afraid this life may only be a story that
we can tell our children."
Ed Butler's special edition of Business Daily from Ethiopia
runs on BBC World Service radio on 15 December.
Courtesy
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African countries
considering land lease
Ethiopia
Tanzania
Mozambique
Sudan
Madagascar
Malawi
considering land lease
Ethiopia
Tanzania
Mozambique
Sudan
Madagascar
Malawi
| Rural communities feel uninformed about how the land lease plans will change their lives |