July 29th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
WashingtonPost: “Ethiopia, a key recipient of U.S. aid in the Horn of Africa region, should also be strongly discouraged from granting long-term leases of its farmland to foreign entities when it struggles to feed its own people in years of poor rainfall.” so writes William Moseley, a professor in one of the midwest’s well known liberal arts schools.
I have no idea what sort of deal the government struck with these fat cat Indians and Saudis justifying the expulsion of the local farmers, and leasing – on long term bases – large parcel of lands to these folks. What is the gain here?
Moseley argues these long term leases to foreigners actually exasperate the problem. The local poor farms with their families get driven out of their lands; their cultures and ways of life that would actually be beneficial for their own as well as community’s survival destroyed; they are no longer cultivating their lands for their own consumption and to sell to the local market. Large scale farming, he says, is just no good for Ethiopia at all, under these types of deals.
My thoughts? humm…don’t know at the moment. Could it be that the administration is so incredibly stupid – which won’t be a stretch - and gave all these up for pretty much nothing?
