http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Nokuthula Sibanda Wednesday
13 May 2009
HARARE - A team of International Monetary Fund
(IMF) experts is expected in
Zimbabwe next week to offer technical
assistance to the southern African
country in areas such as banking and
finance, a top Harare official told
ZimOnline on Tuesday.
The
official, who did not want to be named because the IMF has not yet made
formal announcement of the mission to Zimbabwe, said the team would be in
the country from May 18- 29.
"The IMF mission will be arriving in the
country on Monday to offer
technical assistance to certain areas such as
banking and finance," said the
government official.
"This is
certainly a welcome development as there are areas where we need
help. These
areas include currency and cash distribution as we are now
paying civil
servants US$100 a month," he added.
The mission comes two weeks after the
IMF board announced on May 6 that it
was lifting a ban on technical support
to Zimbabwe where a power-sharing
government between President Robert Mugabe
and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has been attempting to implement
reforms to stop years of
economic decline.
The IMF has however
maintained a ban of financial support to Zimbabwe
imposed 10 years ago
following differences with Mugabe over fiscal policy
and other governance
issues.
Key Western donor countries have also withheld direct financial
support to
Harare, demanding that the unity government carry out far
reaching political
and media reforms and end a fresh wave of farm invasions
before they
consider releasing any money
Zimbabwe has raised nearly
US$800 million mostly in credit lines from
neighbours and other African
countries but this falls far short of the US$2
billion the country needs in
emergency funding while US$8 billion is
required in the long term to help
stabilise an economy ravaged by a decade
of hyper-inflation, unemployment
above 90 percent and political violence.
Once a regional breadbasket,
Zimbabwe has become a stereotype African basket
case, relying on food
handouts after the commercial farming sector was
plunged into chaos
following Mugabe's decision to seize white-owned
commercial farms to
resettle poorly equipped blacks.
The key sectors of the economy,
agriculture, mining, tourism and
manufacturing are all struggling and need
huge foreign currency injection to
raise production from the current average
15 percent capacity. - ZimOnline
http://www.radiovop.com
MASVINGO-A Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party activist who was
abducted by ZANU PF
supporters and tortured for three days in the run-up to
last year's bloody
June 27 presidential run-off elections has died from
injuries he sustained
from the beatings, party officials said on Tuesday.
MDC
provincial chairman, Wilstuf Sitemere said Costa Saliwa (29), from
Ward 38,
Gutu Central constituency, who was a Ward Youth chairman, was
allegedly
assaulted for standing as the party's polling agent at Chidembo
Primary
during last year's March 29 harmonized elections.
Sitemere said
following the torture, the deceased was admitted at
Mukaro Hospital in Gutu
where he was discharged. But his health continued to
deteriorate such that
he was continuously in and out of hospital, prompting
him to be transferred
to the province's largest health referral centre,
Masvingo General Hospital,
where he died on May 10.
"Saliwa was a dedicated cadre who died
while defending the country and
his party as well. He was abducted last year
days before the runoff
elections and spent three days in a state of
incommunicado before being
found dumped.
"His health
deteriorated from there on as he was admitted at Mukaro
hospital. From
there, he was continuously in and out of hospital. He was
admitted at
Masvingo General where he latter died on Saturday," said
Sitemere.
Costa's brother, Rennias Saliwa, blamed the
deceased's death on ZANU
PF supporters and state security
agents.
"It is as good as my brother was killed by ZANU PF thugs.
He was ever
in hospital after the assault, and we can safely say he was
killed, though
gradually," said Rennias.
MDC ward 38
councilor, Cuthbert Jinga, who is also the Gutu Rural
District Council
chairman, appealed to the state to help political violence
victims.
"We are struggling to meet burial costs and we
therefore appeal to
the state to assist not only in this instance, but all
victims of political
violence if the national healing process is to achieve
its goals," Jinga
said.
Costa, who is survived by a wife and
one child, will be buried on
Wednesday in Wazuka village, headman Gadzingo,
in Gutu.
http://www.voanews.com
By
Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
12 May 2009
Zimbabwe's
Commercial Farmers Union said that more than 100 of the
approximately 400
commercial farms still in white hands have been invaded in
recent months and
that some 150 farmers now face prosecution for refusing to
leave their farms
when ordered to do so.
The office of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
said last week that the
cabinet had agreed to press ahead with a national
land audit after receiving
a report by a fact-finding panel led by Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara which toured some of the invaded
farms.
The continued farm invasions have been a thorny issue within the
national
unity government, as President Robert Mugabe has encouraged them as
the
culmination of the land reform he launched in 2000 - but Mr. Tsvangirai
opposes them, saying they are counterproductive, undermining food production
while alienating potential international donors.
Commercial Farmers
Union President Trevor Gifford told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that most of those farming can
only do so on part of
their land.
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Wednesday,
May 13, 2009
By Isdore
Guvamombe
THE International Civil Aviation Organisation will soon
conduct an
audit of Harare International Airport to establish its compliance
with world
safety standards.
The exercise involves a check on
visitors' arrivals, the handling of
visitors, fire rescue equipment, the
airport's physical infrastructure,
runways, taxiways, apron, terminal and
fencing.
This is all part of the Universal Safety Audit Programme
run by ICAO.
Any airport that fails the ICAO test is condemned and
signatories to
the ICAO such as Britain, the United States and almost
all-European
countries ban their citizens and planes from using such
airports.
Zimbabwe's aviation safety regulatory system is based on
the
international standards, recommended practices and procedures adopted by
ICAO and airport security systems will be scrutinised in
October.
Yesterday Civil Aviation Authority chief executive Mr
David Chawota
said the last audit was in 2007.
"To us, it is a
continuous process. It is about how we are
implementing international set
standards and projects. We are comfortable
because we have been doing the
right things," said Mr Chawota.
The Convention on International
Civil Aviation to which Zimbabwe is a
signatory, was signed in Chicago on
December 7 1944 (the Chicago Convention)
but came into force on April 4
1947.
The Convention established certain principles and
arrangements so
international civil aviation can
develop in a
safe and orderly manner, and that international air
transport services be
established on the basis of equality of opportunity
and operated soundly and
economically.
For Zimbabwe the audit comes hardly two months after
Air Zimbabwe
successfully went through an international air traffic audit,
ahead of the
2010 World Cup Soccer Finals to be held in South
Africa.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tuesday, 12 May
2009
Mutare - Many families in Chimanimani and Mutare rural districts
in
Manicaland province urgently need food aid despite heavy rains that
characterized the country during the just- ended rainy season.
Most
families, comprising mostly communal farmers in the districts,
have had to
depend on food handouts from benevolent organizations such as
the World Food
Programme (WFP) because they did not have enough resources to
cultivate the
arid terrain in the area With the situation having not
improved, local
authorities have already requested WFP to extend food aid
programmes until
families have enough food and are in a position to sustain
themselves.
WFP field officers in the districts and some junior
workers at the
local district administrator's office said food handouts
distribution could
be suspended briefly but would resume probably after
three months, after an
official food needs assessment to be carried out next
month.
Food aid recipients receive mealie- meal, cooking oil, beans,
dried
fish Matemba and porridge.
Most parts of Chimanimani and
Mutare districts are generally dry.
Areas most affected are Webgezi,
Chakohwa and Nyanyadzi in Chimanimani,
Mutsago, Musharu, Mafararikwa and
Makuni in Marange communal area in Mutare.
Also affected are areas in
the Save River valley in and around the
Birchenough Bridge in Chipinge
district.
Most small holder farmers in these areas will not harvest
enough food.
Farmers in these regions usually survive on horticulture
crops like
tomatoes and vegetables. However, with heavy rains this season
most crops
wilted and died.
"Most farmers had planted maize early
and the early planted crop
suffered moisture stress during a dry spell that
occurred between December
and January , and wilted .After the dry spell some
farmers did not have
enough seed and fertilizer .Those who planted crops
late had had their share
of problems as well,' said Minos Gwenzi , a local
AREX official.
"Even those crops that are still green may not do well
now as it has
become cold,' he said.
In Chakohwa area where most
farmers planted small grains, qelea birds
are wrecking havoc on the crop . -
Pamenus Tuso
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Wednesday,
May 13, 2009
Herald Reporter
THE
Democratic People's Republic of Korea says it is looking for investment
opportunities in Zimbabwe as part of its drive to strengthen co-operation
between the two countries and assist in the economic recovery
process.
This was said by visiting DPRK Minister of Trade Mr Ri Ryong
Nam, who toured
Dairibord Zimbabwe and Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries in
Harare
yesterday.
Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube
accompanied Mr Ri, who met
senior management at the two companies.
Mr
Ri is part of a high-powered DPRK delegation, led by the President of the
Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Mr Kim Vong Nam, that arrived in
the country on Monday on a two-day visit.
In an interview after
touring Dairibord, Mr Ri said the DPRK was ready to
assist Government
resuscitate the economy.
"We are fully ready to co-operate in close
relationship with Government to
develop your country," he said.
Mr Ri
said the DPRK and Zimbabwe had a long history of friendship and he was
in
the country to find out possible areas of further co-operation.
Minister
Ncube said there were existing co-operation agreements between
Zimbabwe and
the DPRK signed at Independence in 1980 and efforts would be
made to
activate them.
"These are the things we are going to discuss. We will
also look at the
possibilities of joint ventures," he said.
Minister
Ncube said Government would find ways of raising the capacity
utilisation of
local companies like Dairibord.
Dairibord is currently operating at
between 15 and 20 percent capacity,
realising about US$50 million a
year.
The company attributes low production to reduced milk supplies from
farmers.
Minister Ncube said Government intended to raise production at
the company
to 60 percent in the interim and 100 percent by the end of the
year.
Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries is currently operating at 20
percent
capacity, though it enjoys 40 percent of the market share.
At
peak production, the company can produce 800 vehicles a month but is
currently manufacturing 130.
Minister Ncube hailed the visit by the
DPRK delegation which he described as
a vote of confidence in the inclusive
Government.
Meanwhile, Mr Kim and his delegation yesterday visited the
National Heroes
Acre where he laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier.
The national shrine was built with the help of DPRK engineers
and
architects.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and
Home Affairs Co-Minister
Giles Mutsekwa accompanied Mr Kim to the Heroes
Acre.
Minister Mumbengegwi described the National Heroes Acre as "a
prominent
symbol of friendship between Zimbabwe and the DPRK".
http://www.kcna.co.jp
May
12. 2009 Juche 98
Pyongyang, May 12 (KCNA) -- Zimbabwean
President Robert G. Mugabe
hosted a banquet at the presidential palace
Monday in honor of Kim Yong Nam,
president of the Presidium of the DPRK
Supreme People's Assembly, on a visit
to his country.
Present
there on invitation were Kim Yong Nam, Minister of Foreign
Trade Ri Ryong
Nam, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Hyong Jun, DPRK
Ambassador to
Zimbabwe An Hui Jong and other suite members.
Present there
were Robert G. Mugabe, Vice-President of Zimbabwe Joyce
Teurai Ropa Mujuru,
vice-prime ministers, the minister of Foreign Affairs,
the minister of
Justice, commanders of the army, the police superintendent
general and
others and diplomatic envoys of different countries there.
Robert G. Mugabe in his speech said that Zimbabwe felt grateful to the
government and people of the DPRK for having sent strong support and
encouragement to his government and people in their struggle for the
country's independence and the building of a new society.
The revolutionary idea of President Kim Il Sung has always given
confidence
and inspiration to the Zimbabwean people in their struggle and he
will
always be remembered by all people along with history, he
added.
Noting that he was pleased with the relations between
the two
countries favorably developing with each passing day, he expressed
the will
to make positive efforts to boost them.
Kim Yong
Nam in his speech said that the DPRK and Zimbabwe are far
away from each
other geographically but they forged close ties of friendship
long ago and
have developed the cooperative relations.
He recalled that Kim
Il Sung sent support and encouragement, both
material and moral, to the
Zimbabwean people in their struggle for national
liberation and the building
of a new society, regarding President Robert G.
Mugabe as a close friend and
comrade-in-arms.
Saying that the DPRK is opposed to all
sanctions against Zimbabwe and
interference in its internal affairs and
supports the government and people
of Zimbabwe in their efforts to achieve
political stability and economic
development of the country, he stressed
that the DPRK would make positive
efforts to boost the traditional relations
of friendship and cooperation in
various fields between the two countries in
the future, too.
Copyright (C) KOREA NEWS
SERVICE(KNS) All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kcna.co.jp
May 12.
2009 Juche 98
Pyongyang, May 12 (KCNA) -- Talks
were held between Kim Yong Nam,
president of the Presidium of the DPRK
Supreme People's Assembly, and Robert
G. Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, at
the presidential palace in Harare on
May 11.
At the talks
Mugabe said that he boundlessly reveres President Kim Il
Sung who rendered
full support and encouragement to the Zimbabwean people's
struggle for
national liberation and their building of a new society.
Congratulating the DPRK on its achievements including the successful
satellite launch, he said that these are giving confidence and courage to
the Zimbabweans.
The Songun politics is the just politics
that everyone should follow,
he stressed.
At the talks both
sides discussed the matter of boosting the
long-standing relations of
friendship and cooperation between the two
counties and exchanged views on
matters of mutual concern.
Present there were Minister of
Foreign Trade Ri Ryong Nam,
Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Hyong Jun
and Ambassador to Zimbabwe An
Hui Jong of the DPRK and Foreign Minister of
Zimbabwe Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi.
Copyright (C)
KOREA NEWS SERVICE(KNS) All Rights Reserved.
http://www.voanews.com
By
Patience Rusere
Washington
12 May
2009
As Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic continues to subside,
the local and
international groups that have spent many months fighting the
disease are
shifting their focus from treatment to boosting public awareness
of the
continuing threat to public health.
Communications Officer
Tsitsi Singizi of the United Nations Children's Fund
said that although the
epidemic has subsided considerably since its peak in
February, cholera is
likely to remain a constant threat around the country
as long as clean water
remains in short supply.
Even Harare, the capital, continues to have
problems providing clean water,
and many other municipalities, towns and
villages around Zimbabwe face
similar problems.
Singizi told reporter
Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
new cases of cholera
continue to be reported on a regular basis.
http://www.voanews.com
By
Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye
Washington
12 May
2009
The International Cricket Council has invited the
Zimbabwe Cricket squad to
participate in the 2009-2010 Intercontinental Cup
which is normally only
open to Associate members.
Although Zimbabwe
is a full ICC member it could play against Ireland,
Scotland, Canada, Kenya,
Netherlands and Afghanistan in the four-day
first-class
tournament.
Participation could advance Zimbabwe's prospects of returning
to test
status.
Zimbabwe Cricket Media and Communications Head
Shingai Rhuhwaya told
reporter Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that that
the organization has not decided whether to take part
in the tourney but was
honored to be invited.
BILL WATCH
16/2009
[12th May
2009]
Both
Houses sat today, Tuesday 12th May
The
Senate sat for less than half an hour, then adjourned until 16th June; the House
of Assembly will resume tomorrow
Prime
Minister’s Planned Address to Parliament
Cancelled
Prime Minister (PM)
Morgan Tsvangirai was expected to address Parliament tomorrow, 13th May, to
outline the challenges, achievements and problems still facing the inclusive
government, but this now been cancelled.
Update on
Inclusive Government
It now seems a stalemate has been
reached in the discussions on outstanding issues facing the inclusive government
and it is likely that SADC mediation will be called for. The MDC-T have said
they will be holding a national council meeting this Sunday, 17th May, to
discuss the way forward. The Prime Minister, however, has reiterated that there
is no going back on the inclusive government and that any problems are to be
worked through.
It is now just a few days short of
nine months since the formal signing of the Interparty Political Agreement [IPA]
[15th August] and is almost three months since the inception of the inclusive
government on 13th February. Whilst the new government has worked hard to
achieve what it can under very difficult circumstances, it has been thwarted by
unsettled issues between the parties. In this transitional period it has been
difficult for the hitherto entrenched one party state element to let go of
control of power and resources and fully cooperate in the implementation of the
IPA. The succession struggle within its party has made this doubly difficult.
There have been many unilateral
decisions taken by the President representing ZANU-PF interests which have been
contrary to the IPA and its preceding Memorandum of Understanding: – the
appointment of provincial governors, ambassadors, top civil servants, a new
Attorney General, reappointment of the Governor of the Reserve Bank. Now
administrative and contractual implications are cited as preventing the reversal
of these unilateral appointments. The recent unilateral shifting of
Communication responsibilities from MDC-T Minister Chamisa’s Ministry to a ZANU
PF Ministry seemed to many to signal either a lack of respect for the IPA or
that one party’s desperation to fully control communication was such that they
were willing to contravene the IPA. The allocation of Ministries had been
decided on after six months of intense negotiations brokered by SADC.
For a country that has recently
emerged from ten years of sporadic violence, especially in periods leading up to
elections, the perceived failure to deal with political detainees, the lack of
police response to farm-related violence, arrests of journalists and students
and harassment of lawyers, do not send a signal to the world that a new
dispensation has arrived. The inability of the new government to initiate the
promised reform of repressive legislation, administer the law impartially,
review laws governing investment in sectors such as mining, or tackle corruption
has prevented the needed aid and investment inflow. There is constant pressure
from the one party to promote the lifting of “sanctions” but no quid pro quo.
This slows down the efforts to revive the economy and restore employment and
basic services.
Recently,
Formal
Launch of 100-day Action Plan
The 100-day Action Plan
was formulated at the Ministerial Retreat at the
Update
on Parliament
There are no Bills
ready to table. The Order Paper for the House of Assembly tomorrow list motions
carried forward from previous sittings and questions. There is also a motion
for the approval of the SADC Protocol on Science and Technology Development.
Update
on Parliamentary Committees
The Select Committee
on the Constitution Members
of the Select Committee attended a two-day induction workshop in
A Subcommittee of the
Committee on Standing Ruling Orders on Constitutional
Commissions has been
set up to work out procedures for selection of nominees for these commissions
The
House of Assembly Portfolio Committees.
These
nineteen committees did not meet during the recess, so their work plans for the
remainder of the session still have to be finalised. The committees will be
meeting this week and next to receive briefings from the Ministries they shadow
and to finalise the work plans. Ministries have now had more than fifteen
months – since January last year – more or less free from Parliamentary
scrutiny; it remains to be seen how much of this “backlog” the portfolio
committees will attempt to tackle.
The Senate
committees have not yet been
established.
The
Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC]
has not met since it was formed. There has been no new legislation going
through Parliament for it to report on, but there is a huge backlog of statutory
instruments that has built up since October 2008 which it also has to consider
and report on to the House of Assembly. This is a
constitutional obligation which, according to Standing Orders, should be
completed within 26 “business days” of the appointment of the PLC, although the
Speaker is empowered to grant extensions on the grounds of length, complexity,
volume or other sufficient reason.
The Liaison and
Co-ordination Committee held a two-day
workshop at Nyanga two weeks ago. It met to coordinate the meeting schedules of
all the other committees.
Update
on Legislative
Acts: The Finance Act and Appropriation (2009) Act were
gazetted on Thursday 23rd April and came into force immediately.
New
Bills: There is no sign of
new Bills likely to be gazetted soon – not even any of the Bills promised in the
IPA or in STERP. Any reform legislation would have to be agreed on in Cabinet,
a process likely to take some time.
Statutory
Instruments
Date
of commencement: Engineering Council Act [No. 3 of
2008]
SI
65/2009 of 1st May fixed 15th April as the deemed date of commencement of this
Act, which was gazetted in May 2008. A new date of commencement will have to be
fixed, because this one is not valid – it is not permissible to fix a past day
for the commencement of an Act of Parliament.
Other
Noteworthy Recent Statutory Instruments
SI
45/2009 – reduction in carbon tax and NOCZIM debt redemption levy [24th
April]
SI 47/2009 – double
taxation agreement with
SI 49/2009 – provision
for an emergency relaxation, from 2009 to 2019, of patent rights on drugs used
to treat HIV/AIDS or related conditions
SI 58/2009 –
dollarisation of the monetary limit of jurisdiction for small claims courts [the
new limit is claims not exceeding US$250-00] [24th April] [electronic
version available].
SI 61/2009 –
comprehensive regulations under the Environmental Management Act to protect the
rights of local authorities and communities to their genetic materials and
indigenous genetic resource-based knowledge and to promote such knowledge [1st
May]
SI 67/2009 – notice
under the Rural District Councils Act, with a Schedule specifying the number of
“special interest appointed councillors” that may be appointed to each rural
district council in the country by the Minister of Local Government, Urban and
Rural Development [1st May] [electronic
version available].
Veritas makes
every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
JOHANNESBURG - Rich countries and firms are leasing or buying massive
tracts
of land in developing nations for the production of food or
biofuel.
An area equivalent to Germany's farmed land is at stake,
and tens of
billions of dollars on offer.
On the plus side,
agro-industrial production could develop underused
land, and broaden the
world's food production base while providing much
needed resources for poor
countries.
But is the land really idle and currently unused? Are
small-scale
farmers going to be "tractored out" in a murky neo-colonial
"land grab"?
Farmers and experts in several African countries know all
too well the
need for higher food production, but the scale and structure of
the deals
gives rise to concern on many fronts, according to multiple
interviews.
The food and fuel prices hikes of 2007 and 2008 and a
steadily growing
world population raised the immediate and strategic value
of food
production.
Food-importing countries that lack land and
water but are rich in
capital, such as the Gulf States, are initiating deals
to produce food in
developing countries, where land and water are more
abundant and production
costs much lower.
Vast tracts of land and
huge amounts of money are involved: 15 million
to 20 million hectares,
almost equivalent to the total area under
cultivation in Germany, according
to analysts at the US-based International
Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI). Investment so far adds up to $20
billion to $30 billion, dwarfing
foreign aid budgets for agriculture.
Murky?
Joachim von
Braun and Ruth Meinzen-Dick of IFPRI point out in a new
policy brief that
developing countries with large populations, like China,
South Korea and
India, are seeking similar deals, including growing biofuel
crops.
The institute warned that there was a "lack of transparency" in many
deals,
with the amounts involved "often still murky".
Farmers will never be
real farmers again, job or no job, Land is an
"emotional issue", said Theo
de Jager, deputy president of Agri SA, the
South African farmers'
association. Some of the deals have already begun to
ruffle feathers in
developing countries, most of which are highly food
insecure, and at least
one has led to the overthrow of a government.
An April 2009 policy
paper from the German NGO Welt Hunger Hilfe says:
"States that are dependent
on food imports, in particular, are surrendering
more and more land to
foreign investors while failing to ensure that
conditions improve income and
food security for their own population.
Agricultural investments are rarely
made in such a way that they offer the
local population a genuine share of
the benefits." The paper also points out
the risks of high-level
corruption.
The president of the International Federation of
Agricultural
Producers (IFAP), Ajay Vashee, told IRIN "Faced with a growing
population,
if we do not increase our global food production I can foresee
another
crisis, maybe in another two years." IFAP, formed in 1946, claims to
represent 600 million mostly small-scale farmers, a third of the world's
food-growers.
"We are not against the deals, as they will bring in
huge amounts of
money for agricultural infrastructure development, besides
boosting food
production globally, but we must also realise that in most
developing
countries, such as those in Africa, most small-scale farmers have
customary
rights and face the threat of being forced off their land," said
Vashee, who
farms in Zambia.
IFPRI has called for a code of conduct
to be drawn up, modelled on
international business laws to prevent corrupt
practices in the context of
foreign direct investment.
So
what's the deal?
According to von Braun, the arrangements usually
involve governments,
either directly or through state-owned entities and
public-private
partnerships, and the land was usually leased or made
available through
concessions, but was sometimes bought.
"The size
and terms of the contract differ widely - some deals do not
involve direct
land acquisition, but seek to secure food supplies through
contract farming
[[and investing in]] rural and agricultural infrastructure,
including
irrigation systems and roads - these are the better deals."
The concept
is not new. Von Braun pointed out that China started
leasing land for food
production in Cuba and Mexico 10 years ago.
However, in its 2008 report
on "land grabbing", GRAIN, a Spain-based
NGO that promotes the sustainable
management and use of agricultural
biodiversity, warned that the "very basis
on which to build food sovereignty
is simply being bartered away" in the
deals.
"These lands will be transformed from smallholdings or forests,
or
whatever they may be, into large industrial estates connected to far-off
markets. Farmers will never be real farmers again, job or no job," GRAIN
cautioned.
Various Gulf States have struck most of the deals in
East Africa,
which is facing some of the biggest food shortages globally.
IFPRI's von
Braun and David Hallam of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO)
told IRIN it was "too early" to assess the impact of the
deals on food
security and farmers in the lessor countries.
Unease, resistance and protests
Farming and pastoralist communities in
the delta of Kenya's Tana River
have reacted strongly to reports of
government's intention to lease a chunk
of this rich coastal land to Qatar.
Kenya is facing huge food shortages and
high prices after a third
consecutive year of drought.
Mohammed Mbwana, who farms in the area and
is an official of the
Shungwaya Welfare Association, a local NGO, said the
agreement would
displace thousands of locals. At least 150,000 families in
farming and
pastoralist communities depend on the land in question, said to
be part of
Kenya's biggest wetland.
Tana River County councillors
have threatened to go to court and block
government's plans to lease the
land. The council's vice-chairman, Gure
Golo, told IRIN they were opposed to
the project because local communities
used the delta for produce and
livestock farming.
During drought periods, pastoralists from as far as
Garissa, the
capital of neighbouring North-Eastern Province, and other arid
regions, came
to the delta in search of pasture and water, he said.
According to media reports, Mozambicans have resisted the settlement
of
thousands of Chinese agricultural workers on leased land.
In
Madagascar, negotiations with the South Korean Daewoo Logistics
Corporation
to lease 1.3 million hectares to grow maize and oil palms played
a role in
the political conflict that led to the overthrow of the government
earlier
this year, the IFPRI brief said.
In Malawi, Chinese investors were
allocated land, used by locals for
agriculture in the southern town of
Balaka, to construct a cotton processing
plant. When protests followed,
local traditional leaders were taken to
neighbouring Zambia to see what the
Chinese might deliver in terms of
development. When they came back they
relented and opted to move to another
area "because the Chinese would create
jobs for their subjects", a
government official told IRIN.
Foreign
companies are here to make profits and there is little that we
can benefit
from, whatever they will be growing hereVictor Mhone of the
Civil Society
Agriculture Network (CISANET), a grouping of individuals and
NGOS in Malawi,
said: "What we need as a country is to improve on food
production, and that
can be done if we empower local farmers by giving them
the best land for
cultivation. Foreign companies are here to make profits
and there is little
that we can benefit from, whatever they will be growing
here."
Sudan, which has received some of the biggest foreign investments in
agriculture in Africa, dismissed notions of the emergence of a new form of
colonialism.
Abdeldafi Fadlalla Ali, the Federal Agriculture
Commissioner at the
Sudanese Ministry of Investment, told IRIN that they
always ensured local
interests were taken care of in the deals - the produce
was sold locally and
local people "become the highest
beneficiaries".
Sudan, Ali said, has 84 million hectares of arable
land, of which only
20 percent is under cultivation, and had registered 75
deals worth $3.5
billion in eight years. Almost $930 million of this was
already invested.
Eight countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates, Kuwait,
Egypt, Jordan, China and India are involved.
Ali
reasoned that in the face of limited domestic capital, foreign
investment
seemed to be a "better strategy" to achieve agricultural targets,
and
expected that produce from the deals would be exported in future.
Millions of Sudanese require food aid, according to the UN. However,
Ali
claimed food insecurity was more related to transport and marketing than
absolute production shortfalls.
IFPRI recommends transparency,
respect for existing land rights,
sharing of benefits, environmental
sustainability and adherence to national
trade policies as key elements to
be incorporated in a proposed code of
conduct. This could include foreign
investors being denied the right to
export during an acute national food
crisis.
Farmers and think-tanks talk about turning this "opportunity"
into a
"win-win" situation. While the agriculture sector in most poor
countries
grapples with the impact of the economic slowdown, deals for
arable land
continue to prove attractive.
Rwanda recently announced
a new programme to identify "unexploited"
arable land for foreign investors.
On the other hand, the Republic of Congo
announced it would lease 10 million
hectares of farmland to individual
foreign farmers to boost its food
security.
"This is a better option - leasing out land to farmers who
will
transfer skills to local farmers, boost the country's production, and
care
about the land," said Agri SA's de Jager. South African farmers have
helped
improve production in Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Nigeria, among
other
countries he said.
But IFAP's Vashee pointed out that farmers
cannot bring in the huge
investment needed to build or rebuild
infrastructure.
IFPRI is working with the African Union to develop
guidelines on how
to negotiate with foreign investors, which will be
presented to African
leaders for ratification at a summit in
July.
IRIN