by Rogers N. Ruhiye
Tanzania, like many other countries in the Africa and other parts of the world has responded to the global rhythms and forces by allocating land for agricultural and energy production through both foreign and domestic direct investments and by reforming policies, legal and institutional frameworks to suit the changing dynamics of international trade and commerce. The Rufiji River Basin is one of the areas in Tanzania that has received many foreign and local investors in agriculture for food and energy production, for both local and external markets.
Most of the concessions in the Rufiji River Basin and other parts of the country are done in the name of investment, with the claim that foreign investments in land are beneficial to villages as they provide employment opportunities and employ inclusive agricultural business models contrary to the reality. Land grabs are carried out today in the Rufiji River Basin through the application of both force and consent. In the case of the former, those to be dispossessed resist and when that happens they have to be coerced to comply. Likewise, in 1975, post-independence Tanzania established the Rufiji Basin Development Authority (RUBADA) with a view to developing the Stigler dam, which would generate hydroelectric power. The below video gives testimonies from villagers who have been affected by land grabbing in Tanzania.
In Tanzania, government officials and politicians have repeatedly, in public, (mostly in investment meetings or any occasions of inaugurating FDI or investment projects) decried those who say there is land grabbing in the country as mockers of the efforts taken by the government to alleviate its people from poverty. There is no country in this world which has prospered without investment; it does not need a genius to figure this out. But what kind of investment can lead the country to develop? Can the two companies discussed in this report help Tanzanians to develop or under develop?
The above observations prompted the researcher, Gedfrey E. Massay of HAKIARDHI to come up with these case study findings in establishing the motives behind land grabbing in Rufiji River basin in Tanzania recently. The report can be found underneath which was presented at CEFA ONLUS International Conference on Land, a common good (a second attachment).