Kilombero Plantation Ltd, the Tanzanian subsidiary of Guernsey-registered Agrica Ltd. and “best in class” player in the field of socially responsible ag investments in Africa, is up for sale after defaulting on loans from several financial institutions.
In our APRA study, we have been asking: what actually happens on the ground, even when corridors as originally planned are slow to materialise? Do the grand visions play out as expected? Who is involved and who loses out?
Ambitions for venture capital in African agriculture – once the Next Big Thing – are foundering, as is the case with the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania.
During the launch of the Kilombero SAGCOT cluster, Tanzania's Minister of Agriculture says his government would continue creating an enabling environment suitable for attracting more investors into the agricultural sector.
Villages across Tanzania are using legal expertise, political pressure and smart solutions like land mapping to win back plots — and then secure them — from corporations they accuse of using loopholes to grab territory.
The cases of Norwegian development cooperation covered in the report include the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania and the Agrica – Kilombero Plantation Ltd. rice farm in Tanzania
Tanzania has attracted huge interest as a destination for large-scale agricultural investment due to sufficient land and cheap labour. As traditional laws that once protected village land weaken, indigenous communities and farmers have repeatedly lost chunks of land facilitated by foreign investors.
Tanzania claims to have abundant unused land to attract investors. But as tensions over resources grow, farmers, pastoralists and experts beg to differ.
Swedish investor EcoDevelopment registered a claim at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Tanzanian government on September 11, 2017 for revoking a land title amid concerns over the impact on local communities and a wildlife sanctuary.
