Silence over Ethiopian land grab broken

Silence over Ethiopian land grab broken

17 February, 2011 | By Desalegn Sisay
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A Saudi Arabian investor has broken the culture of silence
surrounding a widely criticized farmland acquisition by foreign
investors in Ethiopia, which had hitherto been met with
considerable silence. The investor’s comments come as his
company, Saudi Star Agriculture Development Plc, awaits a
decision from the Ethiopian Agriculture Ministry to expand
his farmland from 10,000 hectares to 250,000 hectares.

Accusations of massive "land grabbing" activities have attracted little
or no response from government and investors alike, as a cross
section of the Ethiopian population questions the government’s
decision to lease large strips of arable land to foreign entities. While
some of the lands include forest areas, many small local farmers
have also been removed from their lands to make way for foreign
investors.

But the silence over the land issue

was recently broken when Sheik

Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi

— an Ethiopian born Saudi

billionaire — commented on the

seemingly relentless criticisms

against the extensive land

acquisition by foreign entities.

“Land

grabbing poses no harm on

the environment or on the local

community,” the billionaire said on

February 10, while visiting his

commercial farm in Gambela

Regional State. A State that "has

become the land grabbing hub in

Ethiopia", says an Ethiopian

national who spoke on condition

of anonymity.

"It is a baseless accusation and in fact it is a rumor spread without
observing and analyzing the actual investment scenario" argues
Sheik Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi, one of the forerunners of
commercial farming in Ethiopia. The billionaire owns Saudi Star
Agriculture Development Plc, which is seeking to produce and
export grains to Saudi Arabia. The company, managed by Haile
Assegede, a former Ethiopian minister of Trade and Industry, is
currently growing rice on 10,000 hectares of land in the Gambela
region under a 450 million dollar investment program.

In the rare declaration, Al-Amoudi also asserted that his company
as well as others involved in similar commercial farming activities will
not adversely affect the local people but rather bring them many
advantages by virtue of the huge investments. The Saudi billionaire
owns various investments in Ethiopia, including the leather industry,
gold extraction, animal husbandry and transportation, among others.

In 2008, Meles Zenawi, the

Horn of Africa country’s

Prime

Minister, had said

that he was "very eager" to

provide hundreds of

thousands of arable land to

Middle Eastern countries

for investment.

A plan that

perfectly illustrates Saudi

Star’s ambitious plans, an agro-economist, who spoke on condition
of anonymity, indicated. According to the expert, the government’s
subsistence farming policy was shelved to give way to commercial
farming as the best way to deal with food insecurity and become
more self sufficient. Nonetheless, criticisms against the newly
introduced government farming policy have been relentless.

Noting that although prioritizing foreign investments while allowing
massive exports of essential food crops "is a meaningful concern"
that has to be dealt with under the new agriculture policy, the expert
does not believe that the government policy was designed to be
"inconsiderate” as far as local populations are concerned. Like Al-
Amudi, he argues that "the first phase of rice production, on 10,000
hectares of land, will create 15,000 jobs for the local people”.

And after evaluating Saudi Star’s demand to expand its investment
to cover 250, 000 hectares of land, the Agriculture Ministry is
expected to issue a new agreement which will bind the former to
export only 60 per cent of its production. An agreement Sheik
Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi of Saudi Star believes will benefit
Ethiopia in terms of foreign currency, job creation and increased
domestic food production.

Courtesy