Once upon a time...this is no fairy tale

I've decided to continue talking about agribusiness in Tanzania by sharing a story, a true story. I have researched all information on websites from the corporations, news sources (including a biofuels newsletter).  There is an entire report apparently, that Dan Rather did on this particular transaction which I was not able to watch, there are several pieces on youtube from his report. I can't download it here, videos take forever.  I start the story:

AgriSol Energy is one of these agricultural investment companies. I am putting this piece in 2 posts, one tomorrow, due to the convoluted relationships of people involved.

From the AgriSol Energy website, about the great stuff planned:

"Tanzania has 43 million hectares of arable land, of which only about 10 million hectares, or 23 percent, is currently being farmed, leaving more than 30 million hectares available to produce food for the people of Tanzania and, eventually, the rest of Africa.

Our programs will support and encourage small farmers and outgrowers, whose crops can be combined with ours, to produce value-added products including animal feed, cooking oil and meat. In this way, they can share in the benefit of the value-added products we produce.

Jobs will be developed in numerous places:

• On our large-scale commercial farms;
• On the small farms and with the outgrowers as they expand their operations;
• In the markets that will be developed for selling our crops, and those of others, as well as value-added products;
• In the infrastructure development that will take place on our farm and in the surrounding areas and communities – roads, electricity, wells, storage, etc.– and which will also have to be maintained;
• In the various suppliers of goods and services that will be needed to support our commercial operations and the surrounding, growing agricultural zone; and
• In the community centers, medical clinics and schools that will be developed in local communities.

AgriSol Energy has a close affiliation with Summit Farms in Alden, Iowa, which has a very successful integrated crop and protein production operation. Summit Farms' founder and CEO, Bruce Rastetter, is one of the founders of AgriSol Energy and has a long track record as an entrepreneur building agricultural businesses, as well as being a leader in sustainable development and education.

Our programs will support and encourage small farmers and outgrowers, whose crops can be combined with ours, to produce value-added products including animal feed, cooking oil and meat. In this way, they can share in the benefit of the value-added products we produce."


Reread that list of jobs they will develop, all low paid worker jobs doing the work for them on their farm. On the small farms "selling our crops"  "infrastructure development that will take place on our farm".  Well with that much acreage, they will need to build roads and "infrastructure" to maintain the farm. 

There is also that issue of water. This is close to the Serengeti, pretty dry there. And that reminds me of an article in the news today, that small farms near a river, down river, from paint manufacturers, paper plants, etc. the article title was something to the effect of are farmers growing toxic crops.





 

What a deal! Evict 160k people to get a 800k acre 99 year lease at $1 per acre

Just imagine a government, for private interest group, expels 160,000 people to provide 800,000 acres to a private enterprise for a 99 year lease at about $1 an acre.

I have collected the following information from a few resources that are noted in the text. Quite a few are quotes, partly because I am tired in the evenings and I decided this is not a research paper.  If it becomes one, I’ll adapt it then.

Land Matrix http://landportal.info/landmatrix/get-the-idea is public online database on land deals around the world.  Although some, tied to Iowa, were not listed, but since people volunteer the info, perhaps no one has done it yet.

There few laws in developing countries with laws requiring transparency in land deals. Governments are making deals with little input from people who live or farm on the land. Some of these families have lived on the land for generations.

This also makes it difficult to keep track of the land, investors, or deals.

“The deals in the database amount to 83.2 million hectares (205.6 million acres) of land in developing countries, or 1.7 percent of the world’s agricultural land, according to the Land Matrix. Information on 51 percent of the deals is considered to come from a reliable source, the group said. (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-26/land-rush-continues-deals-target-poor-group-says, April 26, 2012). The deals in the database amount to 83.2 million hectares (205.6 million acres) of land in developing countries, or 1.7 percent of the world’s agricultural land, according to the Land Matrix. Information on 51 percent of the deals is considered to come from a reliable source, the group says” 

"Most of the investors are private companies, accounting for 442 projects covering 30.3 million hectares, followed by state- owned companies with 172 projects and 11.5 million hectares, based on the data. Investment funds were behind 32 projects covering 3.3 million hectares, according to the group.”

Some projects lead to governments evicting people, “local authorities such as village chiefs who often play a key role in allocating land rights appear to frequently fail to act in the community’s interest,” Promises of improved infrastructures are made by investors but it often does not occur, sometimes the investment is given up before any is completed, sometimes started. “Reported land acquisitions in Africa cover the equivalent of about 4.8 percent of the continent’s agricultural area, a territory the size of Kenya” “2/3 of reported deals go to countries with a high prevalence of hunger.” At this time, 70% of the deals occur in 11 countries—Sudan, Mozambique, Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia. Countries in Asia, Central, and South America are also invested in.

the stuff we don't hear about in the US, first of a series

I may have mentioned early on that as I was leaving CF I saw an article about Iowa State withdrawing from a land deal put together by Bruce Rastetter of the Board of Regents and his agribusiness. Since I’ve arrived here I have become increasingly aware of the poverty and the beauty.

My office is downtown, almost city center Dar. It rained awhile today, forcefully. There is no sewer system that I can tell; there are occasional holes in the concrete sidewalks that seem to be for something, metal plates from the curb across a few inches of street. There are areas with no sidewalks, just dirt areas where people park cars perpendicular to the street making it interesting to watch people try to pull in and out of spots while other cars are driving on two way streets. I walked into the sidewalk, red mud everywhere, with lots of the dirt areas pooling water into mud and pools, not puddles, in the road. Cars did not slow down when driving past pedestrians, just threw waves up onto whoever was nearby.  Now, this is not the rainy season--that starts in March. How could there not be flooding, dangerous flooding even along the streets that have large dirt ditches, I wonder where the rivers of rain flow to? And how toxic they must be, carrying all sorts of sewage. Does it make the water even more polluted? 

Chickens are skinny, fed with grains mixed with small sardines.  There are a good number of people living in put-together homes made from concrete blocks, corrugated tin, no windows, no plumbing, on and on. A lot of kids are on the streets rather than school, malaria, polio, AIDS, and more are still a problem.

But the people are extremely friendly, a smile, a hello, many are selling things-shoes, shirts, books, cigarettes (though I realized today that I have not yet seen a smoker!), and fruit--amazing amounts of fruits-pineapples, bananas, watermelon, oranges, papaya, mango, cashews, squash etc. It’s the fruit that brings me back to Mr. Rastetter and agribusiness. And post-colonial colonization, the return of the company town.

The fruits and veggies here are essentially organic. Yes, one still has to wash carefully-I now use baby bottle sterilizing wash, they are not perfectly consistent in roundness, color, but the taste is wonderful. Pineapple and mangoes that ooze the juices as they are eaten, there are completely different tastes across fruits. Pineapple that tastes like….pineapple! Not some tough stringy fruit that won’t spill it’s juices on the counter.

And now, in the last 5-10 years, the wonderful folks from agribusiness are coming in to “help” the farmers so they can feed all of Tanzania and everyone will be healthy and happy. They will bring in new seeds! teach farmers how to get more crops from their small farms!  Teach them how to store food! Give them access to new farming technology and equipment!.  Translation: “lease” or “buy” land from the government, move the people off of it, set up big farms, give farmers a hectare (the company owns millions), build food storage, bring in Monsanto and John Deere and introduce farmers to the wonderful world of agribusiness. Nowhere does it say the farmers will be given this, just that they will have access to it. They claim they will help with infrastructure—roads, clinics, plumbing, etc. But not when this will happen and other companies that have done the same thing tend to leave infrastructure for last, or maybe not get around to it at all.

There is no mention of how the farmers will be taught, in what language, who will teach (I guess this was where IA State was to come in) them. There are claims that it’s the government and UN that decided to move @160,000 Burundi refugees who have lived off this land for more than 40 yrs, it was not the company and besides the people are going to be re-patriated to Burundi or will become citizens of Tanzania. This is happening all over Africa.  No acknowledgement of culture-no one has deeds or mortgages on the land, they farm it for thousands of years that’s all.

The cradle of civilization.   I’ll be writing more about this, it is extraordinary the things we do not learn in the US, and fascinating that some of the plunder is right from Iowa. It is amazing how interrelated these powerful extraordinarily wealthy people are.  Did you know that the Christensen farm, which was just in the press for abusing hogs and is the biggest Walmart supplier is the company that Rastetter sold his hog operations to? Part of the millions he made.

I sat in front of the computer at the office for 4 hours trying, among other things, to post articles to the consortium's website. I managed to get 1, just 1 article up. When I get home I think I will be amazed at the speed of internet all over again. How spoiled  I was those days tapping my finger thinking I was waiting sooooo long for the page to load. HA!  3 minutes, 4 minutes even. How about 15 minutes to load a page before it decides it can't load?

When we drive along Ocean Rd. I just watch the Indian Ocean at high tide kids are swimming and playing and every now and then there is a tree, closer to shore but sprouting out of the ocean.  At low tide the ocean is crowded with people. I'm no good at guessing distance, but it seems the tide is so low people walk out 1/2 mile or more. They are fishing, digging for, I imagine, whatever edible creatures are there but I don't know enough to say what. I thought clams but I've never seen clams on a menu anywhere here. Can scallops be picked at low tide? Maybe it's seaweed they are after.  I enjoy watching the ocean high, low, the kids, the adults.  I really want to spend a day relaxing on a beach but I don't know where, isn't that nuts? Along the road we take downtown there are a lot of people, barbecue stands/restaurants, people looking like they are living there, etc. Just not a peaceful beach. Also from this beach the humongous oil tankers and other industrial type ships are on the skyline, moving in or out of Dar. 

I am adjusting to life here. I do still take quick breaths or "ohs' luckily no "shit!"s when we are driving. The car that suddenly stops in front of us, or turns into traffic, or when we make a right hand turn and all these cars are coming at me in the passenger seat because there are no streetlights so drivers just go for it whenever there is a break in traffic.  I have come to trust our driver though, now I can apologize when a noise comes out of me or I grasp my chest. He has been driving 20 years so knows the streets well, and the traffic. This is also another reason I try to show up in the office later in the morning and leave early afternoon, to miss as much traffic as we can.  So many photos I'd like to take from the car but they rarely turn out well.  Today, in the middle of 4 lanes of traffic plus turn lanes, motorcycles and bicycles running between cars, guys selling and begging in between cars, there was a policeman standing in the middle of all this. He had a walkie talkie in one hand and he was dialing or texting on his cell phone at the same time.

 Last week a young man was walking car to car begging while an old man, blind, shuffled along behind with his hand on the younger's shoulder. Begging with props. Most beggars are missing 1 or 2 legs, or paralyzed--polio is a problem still existent here.  My landlady told me some rich people provide housing to poor people who pay "rent" by turning over all the money they get from begging. There is, of course, no way you could give $ to one without a) being surrounded or b) have repeat "customers" daily.

Time for downtime. Everyone take care.

Escape!

I did it! I did it!  I walked out of the compound on Saturday, I walked! It was probably less than a mile one way but can't tell. If I walk a 15 minute mile, and although I did walk faster than some folks, it was slower for me. Anyway, that's not the point. the point is....I got out!  First I prepared...since the landlady told me it isn't safe, I put my cargo pants on. Then removed unnecessary cards and funds from the wallet and put various bills in various pockets and just a little in the wallet.  Hmm now I've told my secrets. Ok, so I took a bottle of water and the guard opened the gate for me. And I was free! I walked over to a small restaurant called the Black Tomato. I had been told this was a really good place to hang out, even has wifi.  It also provides space for outdoor booths for folks selling arts and crafts.  All of the items are fair trade, mostly done by a group called womencrafts. A little bit of heaven for me---food and shopping! I brought my Kindle so I was able to sit outside for several hours after eating my sandwich just reading then I did some shopping. I had a ciabatta sandwich with cheddar cheese, red onion "marmalade", and lettuce and tomato that I removed - got to be careful of those raw/fresh fruits and veggies. And scraped off the mayo as usual.  Pretty good, great for a place to hang out for hours. They also serve fresh fruit smoothies, dinner and breakfast and drinks-the alcoholic kind. Some of these looked very interesting-the special on Sat. was a mango mojito, then I saw a watermelon martini. mmm. Better since they do use real fruit juice in most of these places so there would actually be mangoes and watermelon. yum. I may go later this weekend or next weekend and try one of those. maybe both :-). That 3 or 4 hours made a world of difference in how I felt even today. yay! 
Speaking of food, a favorite hobby of mine, I am just sending 1 photo today.  Zanzibar, I've talked about, was disappointing in several ways. One was that I did not get to partake in some of the higher rated restaurants even though I could have on the per diem I was given. Here is my last meal. I sat at the sunset bar reading, had a drink and decided I can bring back something to my room for dinner since we were leaving early on Sat. Sooo I ordered the "spicy guacamole" to go.  It took close to an hour-I thought I was ordering something quick. I knew trouble was coming when the wait person came over and said they were making it fresh. uh-oh. So an hour later she returns with two packages wrapped in aluminum foil, a medium sized one and a small one on top that was cold. Silly me. I figured it was a dollop of sour cream and was glad since I'm avoiding most dairy too and I could toss this. Well, back at my room, packed up, ready to relax. I sit down, pour some of the wine I bought at the store I found a couple of days before. I open the chips which are triangles of crispy dough, an Indian thing, kind of the dough used in Samosas (very popular here). There is no guacamole in the middle of the chips or underneath them. I open the little package. And there it is! not quite a dollop of greenish brownish guac. Brownish = avocado left out awhile. I pretty much had to scrape the guac off of the foil where I could.  I took this photo to show what I thought was unbelievable (but maybe I should have thought first--guac? Mexican? in Zanzibar? Silly.  I laid the pen next to my guac serving to show the size.  I also laid a tube of lip gloss that's even shorter. Learning by food ordering.

a little dark, I was trying to capture the brown overtone that did not show up on the next photo. This is the guac when I opened the little package. Pen on the left, lip gloss container on the right for size.

sunset and dawn

sunset from my room

woman, fruit seller

Sunset (yes I have many)

Dawn (these did not load in order, the darker clouds are first)

dawn

dawn

morning as dawn lifted

dawn

a little risk

Ok, so a school sent me their field manual draft. It looked very good, they borrowed some stuff from other manuals in the US, which is fine. But there was a little thing......a cut and paste about discrimination and equality which mentioned gender, disability, race, etc including sexual orientation. -homosexuality is illegal here, there tends  to be no mention in any school so should I point this out? hmmmmm. Heck, schools have it in the US but don't practice it; no, after all,  I'm so used to seeing the statement it made sense to me. So it stayed. This will likely be the template for all social work programs here since it's the first field manual. Of course it is a draft they will go over several more times, let's see if it remains. Maybe I could write an article about it!!

Well, this will be my first weekend in quite awhile that no friend is around to do something with.  I am going to venture out of the compound on foot! I will not take a purse and I will hide wallet, $, etc in all different places on myself.  I do see people walking I have no intention of being out anywhere near dark. Safety of this seems to depend on who you ask.  I'm comfortable walking in the downtown city from work so I will use my "standard" NYC I belong here" attitude.  A few other kids came up to me to touch my hair again, maybe my hair has magic power to only attract good people :-).  I'll let you all know how it goes.
I need to get out before I run out of photos and people lose interest here.  Photos in the next post. see ya. Still annoyed that My Verona is closed!