Interview with GRAIN on the ProSavana project

EJOLT | 13 December 2012

Medium_screen shot 2012-12-13 at 9
"This is where my family is and I won't give up my lands. Where will I go if they take my lands?" On June 22, 2012, peasants gathered in Namina, Mecubúri District, Nampula to meet with representatives from La Via Campesina and GRAIN. It was the first time they had heard about the ProSavana project, even though their lands are direclty within the targetted area. The peasants explained that they are already battling a Norwegian company, Green Resources, which has grabbed 126,000 ha in the area for forestry plantations wthout their consent. (Photo: Via Campesia/GRAIN)


Imagine a land of 14 million hectares, bigger than Switzerland and Austria combined. Populated by millions of farming families that together practice shifting cultivation. Now imagine a foreign consultant saying that all of these are abandoned lands. Another foreign company saying it will come to farm all of it. Yet another foreign company saying it will ship everything produced out of there. And a president agreeing to all of this, selling this 14 million hectares for a dollar per hectare. Can’t be true? It’s happening in a part of Mozambique. Brazil and Japan are going to colonise a big chunk of the country. Firoze Manji asks Devlin Kuyek of GRAIN for all the dirty details. An article on this project is here.

Devlin Kuyek works for EJOLT partner GRAIN since 2003, after working with NGOs and peasant organisations in Malaysia and the Philippines. He is GRAIN’s most active researcher, focusing on monitoring and analysing global agribusiness, including the global land rush. Devlin is based in Montreal, Canada, and spends time supporting partners and staff in the regions as much as possible.

This podcast is part of a series produced by Firoze Manji for EJOLT, in collaboration with EJOLT partner CCS. All podcasts will be aired on his program AfrobeatRadio, broadcast by WBAI in the US to around 500.000 listeners

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