by Gerald Kitabu
AgriSol’s planned investment project in
Katumba and Mishamo refugee settlements in Tanzania's Mapnda district
has suffered the first major big blow following Iowa State University
(ISU)’s decision to scale back its involvement with AgriSol to an
“advisory capacity,” The Guardian on Sunday has learnt.
Dan
Rather, the longtime CBS reporter and anchorman, who also reports for
HDNET, a television network, and Jenny Beth Dyess, a Research Intern
with the Nourishing the Planet Project, reports that Iowa State
University (ISU) which intended on partnering with Bruce Rastetter,
AgriSol owner, to conduct the small-farmer training programme has pulled
out of the project and remained with an advisory role only.
Reports
say Dr. Dennis Keeney, Professor Emeritus of Agronomy and Agriculture
and Biosystems Engineering at ISU was appalled when he first became
aware of Rastetter’s project at how dehumanizing the corporate world
could be. He is concerned but doubts ISUs withdrawal will make much
difference to Rastetter’s programme since he doesn’t believe Rastetter
took “training” seriously anyway.
Anuradha Mittal, executive
director of the Oakland Institute and a contributing author to State of
the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, is also skeptical
of Rastetter’s project. After conducting a study into Rastetter’s plan
she labels it a “land grab,” an exploitive land transaction by a foreign
government or private investor for the purpose of agricultural
production and export.
Mittal also is concerned about demands in
AgriSol Energy’s proposal to Tanzania requiring permission to cultivate
GMOs and guaranteed access to export markets.
A 2010 analysis by
the World Bank shows large-scale agribusiness investments rarely have
any beneficial effects on the local community. AgriSol’s project will
likely displace thousands of people from their homes and farms and while
some will be employed as labourers, most of the managerial positions
will probably be given to foreigners.
ISU thought that they would
work with AgriSol to make sure that the massive for-profit venture was
also a socially responsible one. According to an AgriSol news release,
ISU’s involvement ensured that the project would “effectively and
efficiently serve the interests of the local communities and the
country.”
While critics call the deal a “land grab” that would be
catastrophic for thousands of small farmers just the kind of people
that AgriSol claimed its project would benefit, the honourable US
ambassador in Tanzania Alfonso Lenhardt has a different view when he
said: “Agrisol have not grabbed any land but were actually invited by
the Prime Minister when he visited Iowa state two years ago and saw how
American technology can produce sufficient food and energy from farms.
The Ambassador had been quoted as saying, in reference to the Bruce
Rastetter and AgriSol Energy.
But researchers into the whole
project say the Ambassador could be deceived just like local people who
were told of the benefits the deal could bring without any written
documents as if it were a gentleman memorandum of understanding over
this source of livelihoods of the poor.
The Executive Director of
The Oakland Institute, a policy think tank, said in response to the
ambassador’s defense of AgriSol Company, 'Honorable Ambassador, our
latest brief dismantles AgriSol's lies around project benefits to the
people of Tanzania.'
She adds: “It is shocking to us that an
appointee of the Obama administration would side with a project that
will displace and destroy livelihoods of over 160,000 Africans to
accommodate investors, including US and Tanzanian politicians and
businessmen, with questionable records of integrity.”
In an
interview with ISU’s newspaper on the fate of the refugees, a top
administrator at ISU, Associate Dean David Acker, responded that the act
was emphatic saying that is an awful thing to even consider.
He
said: “If you did find a set of business people who were willing to have
anything to do with kicking refugees off the land, who would want to
have anything to do with them? Not me personally, not Iowa State.”
Unfortunately,
the facts tell a different story. Acker himself was in charge of ISU’s
work with AgriSol and, as he is doubtless aware, ISU faculty visited the
refugee settlements to do preliminary research for the AgriSol project
in March and November 2010.
What’s more, ISU is mentioned in the
memorandum of understanding between AgriSol and the Tanzanian
government. The agreement specifies that AgriSol would be “working
closely with Iowa State University” and also makes clear that the
project would move forward only after the “resettlement and removal of
all former refugees.”
However, the investigation raised questions about the reasons behind ISU’s involvement with AgriSol.
AgriSol
founder Bruce Rastetter is a major donor to ISU and his
multi-million-dollar endowment pays the salary of an ISU faculty member
who worked on the project. Rastetter also sits on the Iowa Board of
Regents, which oversees ISU. Critics charged that Rastetter was using
the university’s name and reputation to further his own business
interests.
The company, mid this year, came under attack from
land rights activists and politicians, especially Members of Parliament
for acquiring over 300,000 hectres located at Mishamo and Katumba areas
in Mpanda district for agricultural development.
The attacks
prompted Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda to throw his weight to defend the
investor, saying the deal would benefit the local economy and had the
potential to uplift peasants in the area from the vicious cycle of
poverty. He said the investor through Agrisol Energy Tanzania Limited,
had acquired the land in question after open, long negotiations with
regional and district leaders.
The signed MoU with the Mpanda
district Council, provoked protests from people of all walks of life due
to controversial terms included in it.
These include the initial
term of the certificate of occupancy which is 99 years lease, plus the
proviso that the government creates a regulatory framework for growing
Genetically Modified (GM) crops, which is not yet to be approved. The
deal, for the district, is a Sh200-per-hectare-per annum land rent, and
Sh500 as fee to the council per hectare per year.
Also in the
list are other controversial terms such as that for any disputes that
may arise, arbitration shall be held in London, England, pursuant to the
rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which is
reminiscent of the controversial Dowans’ contract.
When contacted
for comments on the ISU’s decision to scale back its involvement with
AgriSol to an “advisory capacity, Betram Eyakuze , the director of
AgriSol Tanzania Ltd, the Tanzanian arm of AgriSol Energy that would
provide the domestic front for this operation, could not pick up his
phone.
IPP Media
January 07, 2012
US university scales back link to controversial Tanzania land deal
Categories commercial farming, investment, land deals, Tanzania