MOUs signed by UAE government include a 2,500 ha SEZ zone with Uganda for large-scale agricultural development and another with Al Dahra Holding for collaboration on the implementation of the National Strategy for Future Food Security.
During the first ever feminist school in Uganda, the Rural Women’s Movement underlined that land is central to people’s identity, livelihoods and food security.
The Uganda government began handing over tracts of land for palm-oil production to Wilmar International Ltd.’s local unit, removing the final hurdle for an expansion project that’s been delayed for almost a decade.
Since 2006, a section of conservationists have been opposed to the Kalangala Oil Palm project as was the case with the BIDCO Buvuma project saying it is a big threat to the environment.
Payoff follows mediation by the dispute resolution office of the World Bank’s IFC but of the 36 farmers who were compensated, eight later rejected the deal and are expected to take their case to court this month
About 5,000 residents in the Island district of Buvuma have rejected a government proposal to compensate them for their land to pave way for oil palm growing for Bidco Uganda, claiming their property was undervalued.
The company plans to spend $300 million over the next five years, mostly on increasing processing and production, as well as expanding into farming in Africa, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, Dhawan said.
The struggle for land in northern Uganda has been going on for a decade but has taken a violent turn recently. The government is currently trying to amend the constitution so that it can acquire land quickly in cases where compensation is disputed.
