Which brings us to Gingrich’s racial coding of ‘food stamp president’. Larry Wilmore deconstructs this nicely on The Daily Show.

While Gingrich’s comments are vile and reprehensible, the abandonment of the poor is wholly bipartisan. The fiasco over last year’s Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act demonstrates this amply. I wrote about this in 2010, arguing that, given the 100+billion dollar annual cost of hunger, a watered down $8 billion-dollar-over-ten-years bill to feed children was a bargain. The total amount that the government authorized: $4.5 billion, paid for by raiding the SNAP entitlement funds. Taking money from adults to feed their children is craven, but as Gingrich’s comments, and the rhetoric of deserving and undeserving poor suggests, our politicians are becoming increasingly Victorian.

Beneath this, the conversation that isn’t happening is, of course, about why poverty flourishes, and how to end it. As the documentary ‘Finding North’ – slug line: One Nation, Underfed – points out, that many hundreds of thousands more people want to be on assistance but can’t qualify. One in four children are food insecure in the US, and – I was shocked to learn – half of children in the US will be on assistance at some point in their lives. Hence the documentary’s title. The beautiful title track, written by The Civil Wars tells of a country that has lost its compass, and is having trouble finding north.

[Click herefor the KPFA player's own page]

It’ll give you goosebumps no matter how much you hear but, for the rushed, jump on in at 39:30, which is where he says:

Ghana has something to say to us. It says to us first that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed. You have to work for it….If there had not been an Nkrumah and his followers in Ghana, Ghana would still be a British colony. If there had not been abolitionists in America, both Negro and white, we might still stand today in the dungeons of slavery. And then because there have been, in every period, there are always those people in every period of human history who don’t mind getting their necks cut off, who don’t mind being persecuted and discriminated and kicked about, because they know that freedom is never given out, but it comes through the persistent and the continual agitation and revolt on the part of those who are caught in the system. Ghana teaches us that.

Will the English-speaking media lose its nerve and write about it? Based on past experience, my wager goes to the habitual policy of silence, and I expect that the news will continue all but unrecorded in English.  Most of us will not celebrate as we should.

Other languages do comment and give a little more detail, albeit still briefly. In German, the word is printed clearly: “BASF admits defeat”, while in French: “The number one chemical concern in the world, the German BASF has announced on 16 January 2012 that it gives up the development and marketing of new transgenic products intended for the European Union.”

Clearly put: one of the largest among the few who banked on the GMO route to do agriculture is giving up in its own home turf, defeated by public opposition to its products which evidently do not live up to expectations.

You will find some records in the business websites, mostly deploring the European hostility towards GMOs, the loss of jobs (about 150-170 in Europe, although many are relocated to North Carolina, for an overall loss of about 10 jobs altogether) and repeating again the idea that rejecting GMOs in the environment is tantamount to committing economic suicide and “rejecting the future” as if this was possible.

I say that the future holds very little promise for GMOs altogether, and BASF is only the first to have the capacity to recognize the thirty years of bad investments. They can afford this move, which is not unannounced and forms part of a year-long reconfiguration of the company to navigate tighter economic straits ahead, because they are diversified and have strengths in other fields. Monsanto and Syngenta, for comparative example, have stood in complete dependency of GMOs since their mothership companies shed them off to swim or sink on transgenic markets twelve years ago; Bayer and Dow stand somewhere in between. Where Monsanto’s stock would have floundered if they announced they were closing GMO R & D in St Louis, Missouri, BASF’s stock hardly budged on the equivalent news (it actually ticked upwards in the Frankfurt exchange) – the timing of the news release may well have been a token of deference to BASF’s partner Monsanto, protecting the latter’s stock from the shock on a day when the US stock markets are closed.

The reasons for the failure of BASF’s products in Europe are many and very diverse, but the fundamental truth stands that over the decades no real benefit has offset the proven harm caused by GMOs.  It is fine to blame “the European public”, but we know that this public is no better or worse than our own in the US or anywhere else – had there been a GMO equivalent of the iPad, masses would have thronged the streets of Europe clamoring for their use. But it may be just as true that BASF would continue to push GMOs into Europe were it not for the tireless and creative work of many hundreds of thousands, the kinds of numbers needed these days to make a self-evident point which counters accepted official policy. So I say to our European friends: embrace the credit that is hurled at you and loudly celebrate what will not be announced as your victory in the newspapers.

We are left in desolate America, though, land of government by Monsanto, where BASF is relocating its GMO headquarters (some specialty technical BASF outfits remain in Ghent and Berlin). In the North it is impossible to know where the nearest non-GMO plant may be, while in the South and in Mexico the tragedy of GMO soy- and corn-agriculture continues apace, driven by corrupt or willfully ignorant governments and against public opinion much stronger and much more vocal than what we have seen in Europe. Far from recognizing the failure of GMOs altogether, something that should have happened at least a decade ago, BASF identifies the opportunities offered by the brutal realities of the Third World, opportunities which are better capitalized with the centralization, mechanization and property-rights enforcement possible only through GMOs. As we celebrate the lifting of perhaps one third of the pressure upon Europe to give in to GMOs, let’s not forget those places where they will continue to be used as the effective spear-head of corporate biological mining of other lands.

COUNTRIES:

Italy

Hungary

Denmark

Norway

Malawi

Mozambique

UAE

Japan

Peru

China

India

United States

TOPICS:

Marketing, advertizing campaigns & psychology

Commodity Speculation

Architecture

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Land Grabs

Indigenous rights

Consumer Food Legislation

Climate Change

Bio/nanotechnology

Gender, women & food

Immigrants, labor & food

Soil, ecology & alternative agriculture

JOB DESCRIPTION: Research Associates will work part-time (approximately 20 hours per week), for six to ten weeks. They will work independently to gather in-depth information on the state of food systems research, and food justice movements, in their chosen country. Methods of research include but are not limited to: online databases (IMF, census information, World Bank, FAO, etc), scholarly journals, reliable news sources, interviews, and site-visits. Check-ins every couple of weeks will help keep research on track. At the end of the research period, the Research Associate will submit a literature review of food debates in their assigned country, as it relates to the larger Ag Dreams project. A properly-referenced bibliography and supporting materials, preferably made in EndNote, will accompany this review. While this internship does not offer any paid compensation, interns will be recognized in acknowledgements and credits for work using their research, and there is the possibility of salaried in-country research work as the project evolves.

EDUCATION: Minimum requirement of a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, with exceptions for people with long-term involvement and experience working with and/or writing about the food justice movements of interest.

EXPERIENCE: Experience, involvement or familiarity with social movements and/or food system organizations. Preferably, you will have on-the-ground experience with the area that you are researching. Experience in research and in-depth investigation, ideally, using online databases, primary material, interviews, and site-visits to gather information. You should have familiarity with the country and/or topic being researched.

SPECIAL SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS: Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing. Must be highly organized, analytical, and accurate. Must have some knowledge of standard reference/information sources and library skills; the ideal candidate will be familiar with and have access to EndNote for bibliographic references. Must be able to work independently. Must have internet access.

APPLICATION FORM:

There are three parts to your application.

1. A CV or Resume.

2. A writing sample.

3. This online application (click here).

Please send the CV or resume and the writing sample to AgDreamsProject@gmail.com.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:

December 15th, 2011

CONTACT:

Please contact Meredith Palmer at AgDreamsProject@gmail.com if you have any questions!

Conference Declaration: Stop Land-Grabbing Now!

We, women and men peasants, pastoralists, indigenous peoples and their allies, who gathered together in Nyeleni from 17-19 November 2011, have come from across the world for the first time to share with each other our experiences and struggles against land-grabbing. One year ago we supported the Kolongo Appeal from peasant organizations in Mali, who have taken the lead in organising local resistance to the take-over of peasants’ lands in Africa. Now we came to Nyeleni in response to the Dakar Appeal, which calls for a global alliance against land-grabbing. For we are determined to defend food sovereignty, the commons and the rights of small scale food providers to natural resources.

In Mali, the Government has committed to give away 800 thousand hectares of land to business investors. These are lands of communities that have belonged to them for generations, even centuries, while the Malian State has only existed since the 1960-s. This situation is mirrored in many other countries where customary rights are not recognised. Taking away the lands of communities is a violation of both their customary and historical rights.

Secure access to and control over land and natural resources are inextricably linked to the enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and several regional and international human rights treaties, such as the rights to self-determination, an adequate standard of living, housing, food, health, culture, property and participation. We note with grave concern that states are not meeting their obligations in this regard and putting the interests of business interests above the rights of peoples.

Land-grabbing is a global phenomenon led by local, national and transnational elites and investors, and governments with the aim of controlling the world’s most precious resources. The global financial, food and climate crises have triggered a rush among investors and wealthy governments to acquire and capture land and natural resources, since these are the only “safe havens” left that guarantee secure financial returns. Pension and other investment funds have become powerful actors in land-grabbing, while wars continue to be waged to seize control over natural wealth. The World Bank and regional development banks are facilitating land and water grabs by promoting corporate-friendly policies and laws, facilitating capital and guarantees for corporate investors, and fostering an extractive, destructive economic development model. The World Bank, IFAD, FAO and UNCTAD have proposed seven principles that legitimise farmland grabbing by corporate and state investors. Led by some of the world’s largest transnational corporations, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) aims to transform peasant agriculture into industrial agriculture and integrate smallholder farmers to global value chains, greatly increasing their vulnerability to land-loss.

Land-grabbing goes beyond traditional North-South imperialist structures; transnational corporations can be based in the United States, Europe, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea, among others. It is also a crisis in both rural and urban areas. Land is being grabbed in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe for industrial agriculture, forest plantations, mining, infrastructure projects, dams, tourism, conservation parks, industry, urban expansion and military purposes. Indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities are being expelled from their territories by armed forces, increasing their vulnerability and in some cases even leading to slavery. Market based, false solutions to climate change are creating more ways to alienate local communities from their lands and natural resources.

Despite the fact that women produce most of the world’s food, and are responsible for family and community well being, existing patriarchal structures continue to dispossess women from the lands that they cultivate and their rights to resources. Since most peasant women do not have secure, legally recognised land rights, they are particularly vulnerable to evictions.

The fight against land-grabbing is a fight against capitalism, neoliberalism and a destructive economic model. Through testimonies from our sisters and brothers in Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea Bissau, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand and Uganda, we learned how land-grabbing threatens small scale, family based farming, nature, the environment and food sovereignty. Land grabbing displaces and dislocates communities, destroys local economies and the social-cultural fabric, and jeopardizes the identities of communities, be they farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, workers, dalits or indigenous peoples. Those who stand up for their rights are beaten, jailed and killed. There is no way to mitigate the impacts of this economic model and the power structures that promote it. Our lands are not for sale or lease.

But we are not defeated. Through organisation, mobilisation and community cohesiveness, we have been able to stop land-grabbing in many places. Furthermore, our societies are recognising that small-scale, family based agriculture and food production is the most socially, economically and environmentally sustainable model of using resources and ensuring the right to food for all.

Recalling the Dakar Appeal, we reiterate our commitment to resist land-grabbing by all means possible, to support all those who fight land-grabs, and to put pressure on national governments and international institutions to fulfill their obligations to ensure and uphold the rights of peoples. Specifically, we commit to:

Organise rural and urban communities against land-grabs in every form.

Strengthen the capacities of our communities and movements to reclaim and defend our rights, lands and resources.

Win and secure the rights of women in our communities to land and natural resources.

Create public awareness about how land grabbing is creating crises for all society.

Build alliances across different sectors, constituencies, regions, and mobilise our societies to stop land-grabbing

Strengthen our movements to achieve and promote food sovereignty and genuine agrarian reform

In order to meet the above commitments, we will develop the following actions:

On capacity building for organising local resistance

• Report back to our communities the deliberations and commitments of this Conference.
• Build our own databases about land-grabbing by documenting cases, and gathering the needed information and evidence about processes, actors, impacts, etc.
• Ensure that our communities have the information they need about laws, rights, companies, contracts, etc., so that they can resist more effectively the business investors and governments who try to take their lands and natural resources.
• Set up early warning systems to alert communities to risks and threats.
• Strengthen our communities through political and technical training, and restore our pride in being food producers and providers particularly among the youth.
• Secure land and resource rights for women by conscientising our communities and movements about the importance of respecting and protecting women’s land rights particularly in customary systems.
• Develop and use local media to organise members of our and other communities, and share with them information about land-grabbing.
• Make our leaders abide by the rules set by our communities and compel them to be accountable to us, and our communities and organisations.

On using legal aid for our defense

• Develop our own systems of legal aid and liaise with legal and human rights experts.
• Condemn all forms of violence and criminalisation of our struggles and our mobilizations in defense of our rights.
• Work for the immediate release of all those jailed as a result of their struggles for their lands and territories, and urgently develop campaigns of solidarity with all those facing conflicts.

On advocacy and mobilization

• Institutionalise April 17 as the day of global mobilisation against land-grabbing; also identify additional appropriate dates that can be used for such mobilisations to defend land and the commons.
• Develop our political arguments to expose and discredit the economic model that spurs land-grabbing, and the various actors and initiatives that promote and legitimise it.
• Establish a Peoples’ Observatory on land-grabbing to facilitate and centralise data gathering, communications, planning actions, advocacy, research and analysis, etc.
• Promote women’s land rights through targeted re-distribution of land for women, and other actions; make laws and policies responsive to the particular needs of women.
• Take our messages and demands to parliaments, governments and international institutions. Continue engaging with the Committee on World Food Security and demanding that processes such as the FAO Guidelines on Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forest truly contribute to protect and promote the rights to land and natural resources of small scale food providers.
• Identify and target local, national and international spaces for actions, mobilizations and building broad-based societal resistance to land-grabbing.
• Plan actions that target corporations, (including financial corporations), the World Bank and other multilateral development banks that benefit from, drive and promote land and natural resource grabs. Maintain opposition to schemes of corporate self-regulation such as RAI.
• Expand and strengthen our actions to achieve food sovereignty and agrarian reform, to promote the recognition of customary systems while ensuring the rights of women and to ensure the rights to land and natural resources of the youth.
• Support peoples’ enclosures of their resources through land occupations, occupations of the offices of corporate investors, protests and other actions to reclaim their commons.
• Demand that our governments fulfill their human rights obligations, immediately stop land and natural resource transfers to business investors, cancel contracts already made, restitute the grabbed lands and protect rural and urban communities from ongoing and future land-grabs.

On alliance building

• Build strong organisational networks and alliances at various levels–local, regional and international–building on the Dakar Appeal and with small-scale food producers/providers at the centre of these alliances.
• Build alliances with members of pension schemes in order to prevent pension fund managers from investing in projects that result in land grabbing.
• Build strategic alliances with press and media, so that they report accurately our messages and realities; counter the prejudices spread by the mainstream media about the land struggles and land reform in Zimbabwe.

We call all organizations committed to these principles and actions to join our Global Alliance against Land-Grabbing, which we solemnly launch today here in Nyeleni.

Globalize the strugle! Globalize hope!

Nyeleni, November 19, 2011

Giant Baigan ka Bharta makes for a delicious record

The Times of India, September 7 2011 [extract]

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-07/delhi/30122772_1_bt-brinjal-gm-crops-chefs

NEW DELHI: It was a grand lunch fit to feed an army. Chefs from Le Meridian, Indian Institute of Hotel Management and Indian Culinary Forum prepared two mammoth containers of mouth-watering, traditional Punjabi style ‘Baigan ka Bharta.’ What made this simple dish made from organic brinjal [eggplant/aubergine] spectacular was that it made its way into the Limca Book of Records on Tuesday.

To protest the tabling of the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament, Greenpeace organized a cook in protest where a 342.5 kg dish was made from scratch with organic vegetables in Dilli Haat. A portion of the dish was delivered to the Prime Minister’s residence along with a petition containing the signatures of one lakh citizens.

“The draft that is to be tabled is draconian and undemocratic. It not only violates the Right to Information Act but will also lead to a substantial increase in the use and commercialization of genetically modified crops,” said Kapil Mishra from Green Peace.

“Our request to the government is not to present and pass the bill in a hurry. We are just asking them to conduct proper studies and research before introducing crops that can have a long-term effect on consumers,” added Mishra.

After preparation, the Baigan ka Bharta was savoured by spectators at Dilli Haat and distributed to orphanages across the Capital.

Brazilian neo-colonialism in Mozambique

The structure of land ownership and land acquisitions by foreign corporations in African countries was the subject of study of the United Nations.

The Mozambique government is giving the use of 6 million hectares – equivalent to two thirds of Portugal – to Brazilian farmers to plant soy, cotton and corn in the north – in the provinces of Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Central Zambezi. The idea is to transplant the experience gained in the Brazilian cerrado, where, from the 1960s, the agricultural frontier advanced into the interior, with extensive cattle estates and soy. The report is published by Raphael and Adelson Mozambican newspaper O Pais (The Nation), 08/23/2011.

In Brazil, the cost of farming the savannah, which is recognized as the richest in biodiversity in the world, has been an 80% devastation of the savannah. The degradation of this biome, which occupies a quarter of Brazil, has been the burial and pollution of the country’s major river basins, which are located precisely in this region and which are considered Brazil’s reservoir.

The Mozambican government have offered Brazilian agricultural pioneers the prospect of crossing the Atlantic Ocean towards the African savannah. For geographer Eli Penha Alves, author of “Brazil-Africa Relations and Geopolitics of the Atlantic”, the “ecological and cultural similarities” offer an “ecological fit” between Brazil and the continent.

In an interview with Editor of the Federal University of Bahia, Penha says, among other things, an affirmation of Kenya’s agricultural expert, Calestous Juma, that “for every African problem there is a Brazilian solution.” “I would say that the converse is also true,” adds Penha.

Brazilian agribusiness, whose success is premised on the depletion of natural resources, now sees the unsustainable export of genetically modified seeds, degrading soil management and estates exploited at the expense of a bankrupt model of agrarian reform. In 2006, the site Reporter Brazil already pointed the way for a new agricultural frontier in Brazil: the rapid soil degradation is an example (of irreversible losses to the region). According report of Conservation International, the traditional planting of soybeans, as is done in the Cerrado, causes loss of about 25 tons of soil per hectare per year. If applied conservation techniques, such as minimum tillage, the number could be reduced to 3 tons per year.

For Rosane Bastos (biologist member of the Cerrado Network), the unproductive practices can speed the destruction of other ecosystems, “if the major producers run out of land, they will head to the Amazon,” he warns.

This is not the first time that the government of Mozambique has offered inducements to increase agricultural productivity, as reported on the “Global Voices” in the months of January and July 2010. On occasion, the site Reporter Brazil has announced worries voiced by traditional communities of Mozambique: a requirement of the government of Mozambique for granting the use of land is that 90% of national workforce in the plantations. At least half the area supplied to the Brazilian government involves farmers living on small farms.

Mozambique is one of the 49 most impoverished countries in the world, with 70% of the population below the poverty line, and where farmers have great difficulty in accessing credit for food production.

The structure of land ownership and land acquisitions by foreign corporations in African countries was the subject of study of the United Nations, according to a report by the Green Foundation.

The document argues that … foreign investment can be beneficial, raising levels of technology, increasing agricultural productivity and job creation and infrastructure. But at the moment these land purchases are being carried out with… lack of transparency in contracts and without ensuring the commitments of investment, employment and development of infrastructure, which may endanger the livelihood of thousands of small farmers or herders, whose existence depends on the land.

Brazilian neo-colonialism in Mozambique is unlikely to contribute to the development of a socially just country. If, on the one hand, Brazil can offer technical expertise to grow seeds in the African savannah, it is also able to offer an unsustainable model of agribusiness, based on monoculture, environmental degradation and land concentration in few hands .

The Mozambique government is offering large tracts of cheap land to Brazilian farmers to plant soybeans, corn and cotton, an official source from the African country cited by the newspaper “Folha de S. Paulo”.

“Brazilian farmers have accumulated experience that is very welcome. We want to repeat what they did for 30 years in the Cerrado in Mozambique , ” Mozambican Agriculture Minister, Jose Pacheco, told the Sao Paulo newspaper.

Mozambique has made available to Brazil’s 6 million hectares in four provinces of the country to operate them under concession for 50 years, on payment of tax of R $ 21 a year per hectare, detailed Pacheco.

The land, whose size the paper compares the “three states of Sergipe” and claims to be “the new agricultural frontier in Brazil,” are located in the provinces of Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula (north) and Zambezia (center) and are intended for the production of soybeans, corn and cotton.

In return for a concession of 50 years, renewable for an equal period of time, farmers pay an annual tax of about 9.00 euros per hectare and should benefit from tax exemptions on the import of agricultural machinery.

The condition imposed by the Mozambican government to offer cheap land is that 90% of the labour hired has to be domestic.

Mozambique will also provide other facilities to the Brazilians, such as tax exemption for the import of agricultural machinery and equipment.

The president of the Mato Grosso Association of Cotton Producers, Carlos Ernesto Augustin, explained the “Sheet” that the land in Mozambique are very similar to the interior of Brazil, with the advantage of price and ease of obtaining environmental permits.

“Mozambique is a Mato Grosso in the middle of Africa, with land for free, without many environmental constraints, with the (cost) of shipping to China much cheaper (…) Today, besides being expensive land in Mato Grosso, is impossible to obtain a license for clearing and cleaning the area, “Augustin said the newspaper.

China is the world’s largest customer of soybeans from Brazil and a major buyer of agricultural products from the South American country.

According to the “Sheet”, the first batch of 40 Brazilian farmers will travel to Mozambique to deploy in September in the lands of the provinces of Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Zambezia.

Mozambique Mission

Professionals and Embrapa Solos Embrapa Satellite Monitoring (Campinas-SP) were in Mozambique between days 04 and 19 June. The trip was aimed at the selection and georeferencing of a pilot area of ​​about 750 km2, representing the environmental conditions of the Nacala Corridor. This area, which will be characterized in terms of soil (1:100,000), climate and socio-economics, will serve as a center radiator and receiver technologies under the Project Support Platform for Agricultural Innovation in Mozambique.

The field work focused on the region between Nampula, home of the homonymous province, and Lichinga, capital of Niassa province, especially in the territory of the districts of Ribaue, Malema, Cuamba and Mandimba. This region was chosen based on the analysis of information obtained from the National Soil Charter of the African country, scale 1:1,000,000 (1974), and prior knowledge of the region, obtained in travel in the preparation of the project.

The team’s strategy was to conduct visits to headquarters of the four administrative districts, where they contacted the district directors of agriculture, intended for exhibition of the work and search for information on land occupation, conditions of infrastructure and organization of rural communities, cultures, and preferred management practices adopted. It was a very useful indication of the previously recognized, according to the perceptions of local experts as having the greatest potential for implementation of agricultural development projects, or considered a priority by government agencies or with higher socio-economic needs. With the lifting of this information, we tried to incorporate in the process of selecting a pilot area of ​​knowledge about local realities and the expectations and needs identified by the planners of economic activities, as an important support for the implementation of new technologies and lines agricultural research.

From the information gathered, have been directed to recognize the work field, so evaluate the potential of local priority, while it attempts to make a comprehensive assessment of the availability of natural resources for agriculture in the region, to establish the boundaries of the pilot. It was also a criterion for the selection of the pilot area the potential for both business and family farming. We evaluated the feasibility conditions of access and inclusion of communities in the development and introduction of new agricultural technologies.

Between 7:15 June, excursions were carried out in the districts of Ribaue, Malema (Nampula), Cuamba, and still Mandimba Ngauma and Lichinga (Niassa Province), with observation and recording of various aspects of the physical (relief , vegetation and soils mainly). In the course of the studies were carried out 45 observations of soil, properly georeferenced, over a displacement of approximately 2 200 km.

In addition to the fieldwork, there were several technical visits, as the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique (IIAM) in Maputo, where in addition to meetings with the local team was a meeting with the Director-General of that institution, Calisto Bias, the Northeast Zonal Center IIAM in the city of Nampula, and the Northwest Zonal Center in Lichinga, when a meeting was held with the director Carolino Martin, along with researchers that the research center, and also the experimental station Mutuali in Malema. We also visited the headquarters of the government of Nampula and Niassa provinces, where the team was received by provincial directors of agriculture, Pedro Mauricio Tumuitikile Dzucula and Eusebius.

Participated in the mission by Embrapa Soils researchers: Amaury de Carvalho Filho, Francisco José Lumbreras and Paulo Emílio Ferreira da Motta; by NMA researcher Sergio Gomes Tosto, and the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique (IIAM) researchers Moses F . Vilanculos and Jacinto M. Mafalacusser.

The authors note the support of Levi and José Barros Moura Leite Luiz Bellini, representatives of Embrapa in Mozambique.

———–

Neocolonialismo Brasileiro em Moçambique

A estrutura fundiária e as aquisições de terras por corporações estrangeiras em países africanos foi alvo de estudo da Organização das Nações Unidas.

O governo de Moçambique está cedendo o uso de 6 milhões de hectares – o que corresponde a dois terços de Portugal – para fazendeiros brasileiros plantarem soja, algodão e milho no norte do país – nas províncias de Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula e Zambézia, centro. A ideia é aproveitar a experiência brasileira no cerrado, onde, a partir da década de 1960, a fronteira agrícola avançou rumo ao interior, com a pecuária extensiva e latifúndios de soja.

A reportagem é de Adelson Rafael e publicada pelo jornal moçambicano O País, 23-08-2011.

No Brasil, essa interiorização da atividade agropecuária custou a devastação de 80% do cerrado, que é reconhecido como a savana mais rica do mundo em biodiversidade. A degradação deste bioma, que ocupa um quarto do território brasileiro, vem soterrando e poluindo as principais bacias hidrográficas do país, localizadas justamente nessa região – que é considerada a caixa d’água do Brasil.

Com a oferta do governo moçambicano, a fronteira agrícola brasileira tem a perspectiva de atravessar o oceano Atlântico rumo à savana africana. Para o geógrafo Eli Alves Penha, autor do livro “Relações Brasil-África e Geopolítica do Atlântico”, as “similaridades ecológicas e culturais” levam a um “encaixe ecológico” entre Brasil e o continente.

Em entrevista para a Editora da Universidade Federal da Bahia, Penha comenta, entre outros assuntos, a afirmação do especialista em agricultura do Quénia, Calistou Juma, que “para cada problema africano existe uma solução brasileira. “Eu diria que a recíproca também é verdadeira”, completa Penha.

O agronegócio brasileiro, baseado no esgotamento dos recursos naturais, agora vislumbra exportar o modelo insustentável de sementes geneticamente modificadas, manejo degradante do solo e latifúndios explorados às custas de um modelo falido de reforma agrária. Ainda em 2006, o site Repórter Brasil já apontava um novo caminho para a fronteira agrícola brasileira: a rápida degradação do solo é um exemplo (de perdas irreversíveis à região). De acordo relatório da Conservação Internacional, o plantio tradicional da soja, como é feito no Cerrado, causa a perda de cerca de 25 toneladas de solo por hectare ao ano. Caso fossem aplicadas técnicas de conservação, como a aragem mínima, o número poderia ser reduzido a 3 toneladas por ano.

Para Rosane Bastos (bióloga integrante da Rede Cerrado), a improdutividade pode impulsionar a destruição de outros ecossistemas: “se os grandes produtores ficarem sem solo, vão subir para a Amazónia”, prevê.

Não é de hoje que o governo do Moçambique espreita acordos para aumentar a produtividade agrícola, como reportou o “Global Voices” nos meses de janeiro e julho de 2010. Na ocasião, o site Repórter Brasil já anunciava a preocupação com as comunidades tradicionais de Moçambique: um dos requisitos do governo de Moçambique para a concessão das terras é o emprego de 90% de mão-de-obra nacional nas lavouras. Em pelo menos metade da área ofertada pelo governo aos brasileiros vivem camponeses em pequenas propriedades.

Moçambique é um dos 49 países mais empobrecidos do mundo, com 70% da população abaixo da linha da pobreza, e onde os agricultores têm grande dificuldade em aceder a crédito para a produção de comida.

A estrutura fundiária e as aquisições de terras por corporações estrangeiras em países africanos foi alvo de estudo da Organização das Nações Unidas, de acordo com texto da Fundação Verde.

O documento pontualiza que as aquisições (de modo geral feitas na África mediante contratos de aluguer de meio século ou um século inteiro pelo que nada se paga) podem constituir um benefício ao supor investimentos estrangeiros. Também pode acarrear atracção tecnológica, incremento da produtividade agrária e criação de emprego e de infra-estrutura. Mas, assim como estão sendo levados a cabo, com precárias consultas à população local, falta de transparência e sem garantir nos contratos os compromissos de investimento, emprego ou desenvolvimento de infra-estruturas, supõe colocar em risco o modo de vida de milhares de pequenos agricultores ou pastores, cuja existência depende da terra.

O neocolonialismo brasileiro em Moçambique certamente não contribuirá com o desenvolvimento socialmente justo deste país. Se, por um lado, o Brasil pode oferecer conhecimento técnico para o cultivo de sementes na savana africana, por outro o país tem a oferecer um modelo insustentável de agronegócio, baseado na monocultura, na degradação ambiental e na concentração de terras nas mãos de poucos.

O governo de Moçambique está oferecendo grandes extensões de terras baratas a agricultores brasileiros para o plantio de soja, milho e algodão, informou uma fonte oficial do país africano citada pelo jornal “Folha de S.Paulo”.

“Os agricultores brasileiros têm experiência acumulada que é muito bem-vinda. Queremos repetir em Moçambique o que fizeram no cerrado há 30 anos”, disse o ministro da Agricultura moçambicano, José Pacheco, em declarações ao jornal paulista.

Moçambique colocou à disposição do Brasil 6 milhões de hectares em quatro províncias do país, para explorá-las em regime de concessão por 50 anos, mediante o pagamento de imposto de R$ 21 ao ano por hectare, detalhou Pacheco.

As terras, cuja dimensão o jornal compara a “três estados do Sergipe” e afirma ser “a nova fronteira agrícola do Brasil”, situam-se nas províncias do Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula (no norte) e da Zambézia (no centro) e destinam-se à produção de soja, milho e algodão.

Como contrapartida para uma concessão de 50 anos, renovável por igual período de tempo, os agricultores pagarão um imposto anual de cerca de 9,00 euros por hectare e deverão beneficiar de isenções de taxas na importação de maquinaria agrícola.

A condição imposta pelo governo moçambicano para oferecer as terras baratas é que seja contratada no país africano ao menos 90% da mão-de-obra.

Moçambique também vai dar outras facilidades aos brasileiros, como isenção de impostos para a importação de máquinas e equipamentos agrícolas.

O presidente da Associação Mato-grossense dos Produtores de Algodão, Carlos Ernesto Augustin, explicou à “Folha” que as terras moçambicanas são muito semelhantes às do interior do Brasil, com a vantagem do preço e da facilidade de obter licenças ambientais.

“Moçambique é um Mato Grosso no meio da África, com terras de graça, sem tantos impedimentos ambientais, com o (custo) do frete à China muito mais barato (…) Hoje, além de terra estar caríssima no Mato Grosso, é impossível obter licença de desmatamento e limpeza de área”, declarou Augustin ao jornal.

A China é o principal cliente mundial da soja procedente do Brasil e um importante comprador de outros produtos agrícolas do país sul-americano.

Segundo a “Folha”, a primeira leva de 40 fazendeiros brasileiros vai viajar em setembro a Moçambique para implantar em terras das províncias de Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula e Zambézia.

Missão Moçambique

Profissionais da Embrapa Solos e Embrapa Monitoramento por Satélite (Campinas-SP) estiveram em Moçambique entre os dias 04 e 19 de junho. A viagem teve como objectivo a escolha e georeferenciação de uma área piloto com cerca de 750 km2, representativa das condições ambientais do Corredor de Nacala. Essa área, que será caracterizada em termos de solo (escala 1:100.000), clima e socioeconomia, servirá como pólo receptor e irradiador de tecnologias no âmbito do Projeto de Suporte Técnico à Plataforma de Inovação Agropecuária de Moçambique.

Os trabalhos de campo concentraram-se na região situada entre Nampula, sede da província homónima, e Lichinga, capital da província de Niassa, em especial no território dos distritos de Ribáuè, Malema, Cuamba e Mandimba. Essa região foi escolhida a partir da análise das informações obtidas na Carta Nacional de Solos do país africano, em escala 1:1.000.000 (1974), e no conhecimento prévio da região, obtido nas viagens realizadas na fase de elaboração do projeto.

A estratégia da equipa foi realizar visitas às sedes administrativas dos quatro distritos, onde foram contactados os directores distritais de agricultura, para exposição do trabalho pretendido e busca de informações sobre ocupação agrária, condições de infra-estruturas e organização das comunidades rurais, culturas preferenciais e práticas de manejo adoptadas. Foi muito útil a indicação de locais já reconhecidos, segundo a percepção de técnicos locais, como detentores de maior potencial para implantação de projectos de desenvolvimento agrícola, ou considerados prioritários pelos órgãos do governo ou ainda com maiores carências socioeconómicas. Com o levantamento dessas informações, buscou-se incorporar no processo de selecção da área piloto o conhecimento sobre a realidade local, bem como as expectativas e necessidades identificadas pelos responsáveis pelo planeamento das actividades económicas, como um importante respaldo à implementação de novas tecnologias e linhas de pesquisa agrícola.

A partir das informações levantadas, foram direccionados os trabalhos de reconhecimento de campo, de forma a
avaliar o potencial dos locais considerados prioritários, ao mesmo tempo em que se buscou realizar uma avaliação abrangente da disponibilidade dos recursos naturais para fins agrícolas da região, visando estabelecer os limites da área piloto. Também foi critério para a selecção da área piloto o potencial tanto para agricultura empresarial quanto familiar. Foram avaliadas as condições de acesso e viabilidade da inserção das comunidades no processo de desenvolvimento e introdução de novas tecnologias agrícolas.

Entre os dias 07 e 15 de junho, foram realizadas incursões pelos distritos de Ribáuè, Malema (província de Nampula), Cuamba, Mandimba e ainda Ngauma e Lichinga (província de Niassa), com observação e registo dos diversos aspectos do meio físico (relevo, vegetação e principalmente solos). No decorrer dos trabalhos, foram realizadas 45 observações de solos, devidamente georeferenciadas, ao longo de um deslocamento de aproximadamente 2 200 km.

Além dos trabalhos de campo, aconteceram várias visitas técnicas, como ao Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM) em Maputo, onde além de reuniões de trabalho com a equipa local ocorreu um encontro com o director-geral daquela instituição, Calisto Bias; ao Centro Zonal Nordeste do IIAM, na cidade de Nampula, e ao Centro Zonal Noroeste, em Lichinga, quando foi realizada reunião com o diretor Carolino Martinho, juntamente com pesquisadores daquele centro de pesquisa, e ainda à estação experimental de Mutuali, em Malema. Foram também visitadas as sedes do governo das províncias de Nampula e Niassa, onde a equipa foi recebida pelos directores provinciais de agricultura, Pedro Dzucula e Eusébio Maurício Tumuitikile.

Participaram da missão pela Embrapa Solos os pesquisadores: Amaury de Carvalho Filho, José Francisco Lumbreras e Paulo Emílio Ferreira da Motta; pela Embrapa Monitoramento por Satélite o pesquisador Sérgio Gomes Tôsto, e pelo Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM) os pesquisadores Moisés F. Vilanculos e Jacinto M. Mafalacusser.

Vale destacar o apoio de Levi Moura Barros e José Luiz Bellini Leite, representantes da Embrapa em Moçambique.

La Via Campesina in Movement… Food Sovereignty now! from La Via Campesina on Vimeo.

The rest of the interview’s worth a look too.