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Mozambique: Agriculture Project Challenged
AfricaFocus Bulletin
June 12, 2013 (130612)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"We, the rural populations, families from the communities
of the Nacala Corridor, religious organisations and
Mozambican civil society, recognising the importance and
urgency of combating poverty and promoting sustainable
and sovereign development, believe it is timely and
crucial to voice our concerns and proposals in relation
to the ProSavana Programme. ... After several discussions
at community level in the districts covered by this
programme, with Mozambican Government authorities [and
with representatives of Brazil and Japan], we find that
there are many discrepancies and contradictions
[confirming] defects in the programme design;
irregularities in the alleged process of public
consultation and participation; serious and imminent
threat of usurpation of rural populations' lands and
forced removal of communities from areas that they
currently occupy." - Open letter to leaders of
Mozambique, Brazil, and Japan, May 28, 2013
Like other critiques of the private-sector bias of recent
international schemes for agricultural development in
Africa, this statement does not contend that large
private-sector enterprises should be totally excluded
from agricultural development plans in Africa. But it
reflects a wide consensus among African and international
civil society groups that plans primarily based on making
life easier for large corporate interests will end up
primarily benefiting those interests, with few gains and
many likely damages for small farmers and the public
interest.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains an open letter from
Mozambican, Brazilian, and Japanese civil society groups
addressed to the leaders of Mozambique, Brazil, and
Japan, challenging the multinational Pro-Savana Programme
in the Nacala corridor of northern Mozambique. The
Programme is being introduced without adequate
consultation and environmental checks, they argue, and in
its present form will do irreparable damage to the small
farmers of the affected area. Meanwhile, the primary
beneficiaries will be private-sector firms unchecked by
accountability to the public interest.
Also included below is an excerpt from the Cooperation
Agreement with Mozambique under the G8 New Alliance for
Food Security and Nutrition, illustrating the policies
being imposed as a condition for the "aid" and privatesector
investment.
Another AfricaFocus Bulletin released today and available
on the web at http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/ag1306.php, contains
contains a joint statement by African civil society
groups, challenging the claim that the G8 New Alliance
for Food Security and Nutrition that their programs
benefit African farmers and food security. In fact, as
this statement and multiple reports document, the
insistence on private-sector-led development, without
adequate checks and policy direction by government and
farmers themselves, is contributing to the dispossession
of African farmers at the expense of both large and small
private-sector firms from around the world.
That Bulletin also contains links to other recent
critiques of the New Alliance and "development" projects
of a similar nature.
Official background on the New Alliance programs,
including texts of cooperation agreements signed with
African countries, is available at
http://www.feedthefuture.gov / direct URL:
http://tinyurl.com/q95c5rc
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on agriculture issues,
visit http://www.africafocus.org/agexp.php
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
Open Letter from Mozambican civil society organisations
and movements to the presidents of Mozambique and Brazil
and the Prime Minister of Japan
Maputo, May 28, 2013
His Excellency the President of the Republic of
Mozambique, Armando Guebuza
Her Excellency the President of the Federative Republic
of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff
His Excellency the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe
Subject: Open Letter to Urgently Stop and Reflect on the
ProSavana Programme
Excellencies;
The Government of the Republic of Mozambique, in
partnership with the Governments of the Federative
Republic of Brazil and Japan, officially launched the
ProSavana Programme in April 2011. The programme is the
result of a trilateral partnership of the three
governments with the purpose of, purportedly, promoting
the development of agriculture in the tropical savannas
of the Nacala Corridor in northern Mozambique.
Opposition to the ProSavana project in northern
Mozambique is intensifying.
The entry and implementation strategy of ProSavana is
based on, justifiably, the urgent need to fight poverty
and the national and human imperative of promoting the
economic, social and cultural development of our country.
Or at least, these have been the main arguments used by
the Government of Mozambique to justify its option to
pursue a policy of attracting Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) and the subsequent deployment of large investments
in mining, hydrocarbons, monoculture tree plantations and
agribusiness for the production of commodities.
We, the rural populations, families from the communities
of the Nacala Corridor, religious organisations and
Mozambican civil society, recognising the importance and
urgency of combating poverty and promoting sustainable
and sovereign development, believe it is timely and
crucial to voice our concerns and proposals in relation
to the ProSavana Programme.
The ProSavana Programme is already being implemented
through its 'Quick Impact Projects' component, without
the Environmental Impact Assessment Study ever having
been carried out, publicly discussed and approved, one of
the main and essential requirements of Mozambican
legislation for the implementation of projects of this
size, normally classified as Category A.
The breadth and grandeur of the ProSavana Programme
contrast with the failure of the law and the total
absence of a deep, broad, transparent and democratic
public debate, preventing us, (small-scale farmers,
families and the population), in this way, from
exercising our constitutional right of access to
information, consultation, participation and informed
consent on a matter of great social, economic and
environmental relevance with direct impact on our lives.
However, since September 2012, we have been conducting an
extensive debate and wide-reaching meetings with various
sectors of Mozambican society. According to the latest
documents we had access to, the ProSavana Programme is a
mega partnership between the Governments of Mozambique,
Brazil and Japan, which will cover an estimated area of
14.5 million hectares of land in 19 districts of the
provinces of Niassa, Nampula and Zambézia, allegedly
intended for the development of large-scale agriculture
in tropical savannas, located along the Nacala
Development Corridor.
After several discussions at community level in the
districts covered by this programme, with Mozambican
Government authorities, diplomatic missions of Brazil and
Japan and their international cooperation agencies
(Brazilian Cooperation Agency-ABC, and the International
Cooperation Agency of Japan-JICA), we find that there are
many discrepancies and contradictions in the sparse
information and documents available, which are
indications and evidence to confirm the existence of
defects in the programme design; irregularities in the
alleged process of public consultation and participation;
serious and imminent threat of usurpation of rural
populations' lands and forced removal of communities from
areas that they currently occupy.
President of Mozambique, President of Brazil and Prime
Minister of Japan, international cooperation must be
anchored on the basis of the interests and aspirations of
people to build a world of greater justice and
solidarity. However, the ProSavana Programme does not
abide by these principles and those driving it do not
propose, much less show themselves to be available to
discuss in an open manner, the substantive issues
associated with the development of agriculture in our
country.
President Armando Guebuza, we would like to recall that
Your Excellency, along with millions of Mozambicans, men
and women, sacrificed much of your youth, fighting to
liberate the people and the land from colonial
oppression. Since those hard times, rural populations,
with their feet firmly on the ground, took it upon
themselves to produce food for the Mozambican nation,
raising the country from the rubble of war to building an
independent and just society characterised by solidarity,
where everyone could feel that they are the children of
this liberated land.
President Guebuza, more than 80% of the Mozambican
population depends on family farming for its livelihood,
accounting for the production of more than 90% of the
country's food. ProSavana is a tool for creating optimal
conditions for multinational corporations to enter the
country, which will inevitably rob rural families of
their autonomy and disrupt the small-scale food
production systems, which could cause the emergence of
landless families and increased food insecurity, i.e.,
the loss of the greatest achievements of our National
Independence.
President Dilma Rousseff, solidarity between the peoples
of Mozambique and Brazil comes from the difficult times
of the national liberation struggle, through national
reconstruction during and after the 16 years of war that
Mozambique went through. More than anyone, President
Dilma you suffered oppression and were a victim of the
military dictatorship in Brazil and knows the price of
freedom. Currently, two-thirds of the food consumed in
Brazil is produced by rural populations and not by the
corporations that the Brazilian Government is exporting
to Mozambique through ProSavana.
President Dilma Rousseff, how is it justified that the
Brazilian Government does not give priority to the Food
Acquisition Programme in Mozambique, which we rural
populations support and encourage? Paradoxically, all
financial, material and human resources at various levels
are allocated to agribusiness development promoted by
ProSavana. How is it that international cooperation
between Brazil, Mozambique and Japan, which should
promote solidarity among peoples, is converted into an
instrument to facilitate obscure commercial transactions
and promote the grabbing of community land, which we use
in the age-old manner to produce food for the Mozambican
nation and beyond?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan, through JICA, for
decades contributed to the development of agriculture and
other sectors in our country. We repudiate the current
policy of the Japanese Government's cooperation with
Mozambique in the agrarian sector. More than the
investment in mega infrastructure in the Nacala Corridor
to allow the outflow of agricultural commodities through
the port of Nacala, as well as financial and human
support to ProSavana, it is our understanding that the
Japanese venture should focus on small-scale agriculture,
the only one capable of producing adequate food in the
quantities needed for the Mozambican population, as well
as promoting sustainable and inclusive development.
Esteemed representatives of the people of Mozambique,
Brazil and Japan, we live a phase in history marked by
growing demand by and expansion of large financial groups
and multinational corporations through appropriation and
control of natural resources globally, transforming these
into commodities and claiming these as a business
opportunities.
Excellencies, on the strength of the facts presented, we
rural populations of Mozambique, families from the rural
communities of the Nacala Corridor, religious
organisations and civil society, denounce and repudiate
as a matter of urgency:
- The manipulation of information and intimidation of
communities and civil society organisations who oppose
ProSavana by presenting sustainable alternatives for the
agricultural sector;
- The imminent process of usurpation of the land of local
communities by Brazilian, Japanese and local
corporations, as well as those of other nations;
- ProSavana is based on increasing production and
productivity based on export monocultures (maize,
soybean, cassava, cotton, sugar cane, etc.), which aims
to integrate rural populations in the production process
exclusively controlled by multinational corporations and
multilateral financial institutions, destroying family
farming systems;
- The importation into Mozambique of the built-in
contradictions of the development model of Brazilian
agriculture.
Despite the accusations presented above, we rural
populations of Mozambique, families from the rural
communities of the Nacala Corridor, religious
organisations and civil society, request and demand
urgent intervention of Your Excellencies, President of
Mozambique, President of Brazil and Prime Minister of
Japan, as the legitimate representatives of your people,
in order to urgently halt the intervention logic of the
ProSavana Programme, which will have irreversible
negative impacts for rural households such as:
- The emergence of landless families and communities in
Mozambique as a result of the processes of land
expropriations and consequent resettlement;
- Frequent upheavals and socio-environmental conflicts in
communities along the Nacala Corridor, and beyond;
- Worsening and deepening poverty among families of rural
communities and reduced alternatives for livelihoods and
existence;
- Destruction of the production systems of rural families
and consequently food insecurity;
Increased corruption and conflicts of interest;
- Pollution of ecosystems, soil and water resources as a
result of excessive and uncontrolled use of pesticides,
chemical fertilisers and other toxic substances;
- Ecological imbalance as a result of extensive clearing
of forests to make way for agribusiness mega projects.
Thus, we small-scale farmers, families from the
communities of the Nacala Corridor, religious
organisations and national civil society signatories to
this Open Letter, publicly express our indignation and
outrage at the way the ProSavana Programme has been
designed and is being implemented on our lands and the
communities of our country.
We advocate for the development of agriculture based on
production systems, rather than products, i.e., the nondestruction
of the family method of production, which
over and above economic issues also incorporates
specifically the way of occupation of geographic spaces,
the social and anthropological dimension that has proved
very sustainable throughout the history of mankind.
The social movements and organisations signatories to
this Open Letter turn to Your Excellencies, President
Armando Guebuza, President Dilma Rousseff and Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, in your capacity as Heads of
Government and State and legitimate representatives of
the peoples of Mozambique, Brazil and Japan to see to it:
- That all necessary measures are taken to immediately
suspend all activities and projects under way in the
tropical savannas of the Nacala Development Corridor
within the scope of the implementation of the ProSavana
Programme;
- That the Government of Mozambique see to it that an
inclusive and democratic mechanism is set up for the
creation of an official broad dialogue with all sectors
of Mozambican society, particularly small-scale farmers,
rural people, Corridor communities, religious
organisations and civil society with the aim of defining
their real needs, aspirations and priorities in the
national development matrix and agenda;
- That all human, material and financial resources
allocated to the ProSavana Programme be reallocated to
efforts to define and implement a National Plan for the
Support of Sustainable Family Farming (the family
system), advocated for more than two decades by rural
families throughout the Republic of Mozambique with the
aim of supporting and guaranteeing food sovereignty for
the more than 16 million Mozambicans for whom agriculture
is the main means of livelihood;
- That the Mozambican Government prioritise food
sovereignty, conservation agriculture and agro-ecology as
the only sustainable solutions for reducing hunger and
promoting proper nutrition;
- That the Mozambican Government adopt policies for the
agricultural sector focused on support for small-scale
agriculture, whose priorities are based on access to
rural credit, farming extension services, irrigation,
giving value to native seeds that are resistant to
climate change, rural infrastructure linked to the
creation of productive capacity and policies that support
and promote the commercialisation of rural production.
- Finally and according to the statement above, we,
Mozambican small-scale farmers, families from the rural
communities of the Nacala Corridor, religious
organisations and civil society, demand cooperation among
countries based on the genuine interests and aspirations
of the people, a cooperation that serves the promotion of
a more just and caring society. We dream of a better and
viable Mozambique, where all Mozambicans men and women
can feel that they are the children of this land, united
and engaged in the construction of a state whose
sovereignty comes from and resides in the people.
Maputo, on this, the 28th day of May, 2013
Media Contacts:
Jeremias Filipe Vunjanhe +258 823 911 238
jfvunjanhe@gmail.com
Alexandre Silva Dunduro +258 828 686 690
dunduroalexandre@hotmail.com / adecru2007@gmail.com
Muagerere +258 82 60 64 26 / Fax:262863
AMuagerene@scipnampula.org
Signatory Mozambican organisations/ social movements:
- Acção Académica para o Desenvolvimento das Comunidades
Rurais (ADECRU)
- Associação de Apoio e Assistência Jurídica as
Comunidades (AAAJC) -Tete
- Associação Nacional de Extensão Rural (AENA)
- Associação de Cooperação para o Desenvolvimento
(ACOORD)
- AKILIZETHO-Nampula
- Caritas Diocesana de Lichinga-Niassa
- Conselho Cristão de Moçambique (CCM)- Niassa
- ESTAMOS - Organização Comunitária
- FACILIDADE-Nampula
- Justiça Ambiental/Friends of The Earth Mozambique
- Fórum Mulher
- Fórum das Organizações Não Governamentais do Niassa
(FONAGNI)
- Fórum Terra-Nampula
- Fórum das Organizações Não Governamentais de Gaza
(FONG)
- Kulima
- Liga Moçambicana de Direitos Humanos-LDH
- Livaningo
- Organização para Desenvolvimento Sustentável (OLIPA-
ODES)
- Organização Rural de Ajuda Mútua (ORAM)-Delegação de
Nampula
- Organização Rural de Ajuda Mútua (ORAM)- Delegação de
Lichinga-Niassa
- Plataforma Provincial da Sociedade Civil de Nampula
- Rede de Organizações para o Ambiente e
Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ROADS) Niassa
- União Nacional de Camponeses-UNAC
Signatory international organisations/social movements:
- Alter Trade Japan Inc.- Japan
- Amigos da Terra Brasil
- Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia (ANA) - Brasil
- Associação Brasileira de ONGs (Abong )
- Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions
for the Aid of Citizens (ATTAC) - Japan
- Africa Japan Forum (AJF) - Japan
- Alternative People's Linkage in Asia (APLA) - Japan
- Association of Support for People in West Africa
(SUPA) - Japan
- Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) - Brasil
- Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT) - Brasil
- Comissão Pastoral da Terra (MT) - Brasil
- Confederação Nacional de Trabalhadores de Agricultura
(CONTAG) - Brasil
- FASE - Solidariedade e Educação - Brasil
- Federação dos Trabalhadores da Agricultura Familiar
(FETRAF) - Brasil
- Federação dos Estudantes de Agronomia do Brasil
(FEAB)
- Fórum Mato- grossense de Meio Ambiente e
Desenvolvimento (FORMAD) - Brasil
- Fórum de Direitos Humanos e da Terra do Mato Grosso
(FDHT- MT) - Brasil
- Fórum Brasileiro de Soberania e Segurança alimentar e
Nutricional (FBSSAN) - Brasil
- Fórum Mudanças Climáticas e Justiça Social do Brasil
- Fórum de Lutas de Cáceres - MT- Brasil
- GRAIN International
- Grupo Pesquisador em Educação Ambiental, Comunicação
e Arte (GPEA/UFMT) - Brasil
- Grupo raízes - Brasil
- Instituto Políticas Alternativas para o Cone Sul
(PACS) - Brasil
- Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Económicas
(Ibase) - Brasil
- Instituto Caracol (iC) - Brasil
- Instituto de Estudos Socioeconómicos do Brasil
(Inesc)
- Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC) - Japan
- Justiça Global- Brasil
- La Via Campesina- Região Africa 1
- Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra- Brasil
- Movimento Mundial pelas Florestas Tropicais (WRM) -
Uruguai
- Movimento de Mulheres Camponesas (MMC) - Brasil
- Movimentos dos Pequenos Agricultores (MPA) - Brasil
- Mozambique Kaihatsu wo Kangaeru Shiminno Kai - Japan
- Network for Rural-Urban Cooperation - Japan
- No-Pesticides Action Network in Tokyo(NPANT) - Japan
- ODA Reform Network (ODA- Net) - Japan
- Rede Brasileira Pela Integração dos Povos (REBRIP)
- Rede Axé Dudu- Brasil
- Rede Mato-Grossense de Educação Ambiental (REMTEA) -
Brasil
- Sociedade fé e vida-Brasil
- Vida Brasil
Individual signatories: [see original document at
http://www.grain.org/e/4738]
Excerpt from G8 Cooperation Framework to Support the
"New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition" in
Mozambique
Available at http://tinyurl.com/q95c5rc The
full cooperation framework also contains other policy
commitments and listings of donor governments and
Mozambican and international private-sector companies
pledging their involvement.
Annex 1: Government of Mozambique Key Policy Commitments
I. Establish policies and regulations that promote
competitive, private-sector agricultural input markets,
especially for smallholder farmers.
- Revise and Implement National Seed Policy, including:
- Systematically cease distribution of free and
unimproved seeds except for pre-identified staple crops
in emergency situations.
- Allow for private sector accreditation for inspection.
- Implement approved regulations governing seed
proprietary laws which promote private sector investment
in seed production (basic and certified seed).
- Revise and approve legislation regulating the
production, trade, quality control and seed certification
compliant with the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) seed protocol requirements.
- Develop and implement a national fertilizer regulatory
and enforcement framework.
- Assess and validate the National Fertilizer Strategy
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic
publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on
African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and
international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by
William Minter.
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