“We are desperate of food. Nowdays food comes from the city to be sold in the village and not vice versa as before. We could not afford to buy food because the wages we are paid was very little. We do not produce our own food as before because our land has been taken over by foreign companies under privitasation policy to produce biofuel farms. Everybody is talking of hunger as a consequence of mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa (climate change) but for me our reason is that we are farming in unproductive lands. Increased biofuel production has resulted in massive deforestation and has severe implications for our food security, as energy crops replace our normal land uses. Please tell the government we do not like this behavior of biofuel farms.” - Asha Bakari (36) from Mavuji village in Kilwa district.
Farmland in Tanzania cleared for biofuels
The impact of biofuel production on food security, the economic wellbeing of farmers and the environment is a silent catastrophe. Let me explain why.
Agriculture is Tanzania’s most important industry
Agriculture is the predominant sector of the Tanzanian economy. The sector accounts for a quarter of my country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for around two thirds of export earnings. It is also a source of food and provides employment opportunities to about 80 percent of Tanzanians, mostly rural women.
In spite of being the main sector in the country, it is dominated by small-scale farmers who cultivate average farm sizes of no more than three hectares each.
Biofuelss are replacing food crops
Recently, however, a growing number of foreign companies have started to acquire land for growing crops to produce biofuels. Typically, these crops include Jatropha, sunflower, palm oil and sugarcane.
Thousands of Tanzanians rice and maize growing farmers have already been displaced from fertile and irrigated lands.
From 2006 to 2009, the country has witnessed an influx of investors interested in snapping up land for biofuels production. Already, approximately 700,000 hectares of land has been earmarked for biofuels farms. This is in a country that struggles to feed its own people.
Of course, the bureaucrats believe growing energy crops will transform agriculture in Tanzania, provide alternative source of income among smallholder farmers especially women, improve energy security and create new employment and enhance rural development.
But as someone who has seen the impact of these policies on rural farmers firsthand, I can tell you energy crops have become a threat to food security in Tanzania.
Corruption and trickery by biofuel investors
A combination of corruption by authorities and lack of understanding in rural communities of government policies and laws, means that the poor farmers are cheated, not involved in important decisions, and displaced from their land with token compensation.
In Nyandakatundu village, south of Tanzania’s capital Dar es Salaam, villagers were tricked into signing over the title to their land for a measly 5,000 Tanzanian shillings (US$4.00) each. The villagers thought they were being paid to attend the village meeting and had to provide their signatures to receive their allowance. Only later did they realise the investor had used their signatures to acquire the land officially.
Even farmers who are not being tricked into signing over their land are being paid far below market value. In one case in Kisarawe district an investor bought 9,000 hectares of fertile land from 152 people for the equivalent of US$216,000.
On top of this, most investors are foreign companies that do not pay taxes such as custom duties and taxes on agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides – which means they return very little value to the government.
ActionAid is helping farmers fight back
Last year, ActionAid Tanzania conducted research on the implication of biofuels production on food security in Tanzania. We spoke with local communities in biofuel produci
ng areas to hear their views and opinions regarding biofuel investments.
We plan to release a report based on the research towards the middle of this year and are calling for global transparency and accountability on the matter.
The idea that biofuels are the solution to global warming must be challenged before it is too late for farmers like Asha.
Tags: biofuels, food security, hunger, tanzania, tax
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