August 4, 2009

Foreign investors are encroaching on African small-scale farmers' land to meet the demand for biofuels, a farmers' federation official said Monday (August 3).

"There is a move by countries, mainly Arab states and [those in] Europe, that are eyeing certain countries in Africa to invest in agriculture," Steven Muchiri, chief executive for the Eastern Africa Small Scale Farmers Federation, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Muchiri said these countries wanted to grow biofuels even if they gave the impression of wanting to grow more conventional crops.

"In some countries, such as in Kenya, Tanzania and Congo, they are leasing out large tracts of land to grow crops to export to their countries...The areas the governments are leasing to them are inhabited by small-scale farmers, who risk being thrown out from their livelihood," he said.

Muchiri said that in Kenya, Qatari investors have been allocated 40,000 hectares of land on the Tana delta.

"We are having a severe shortage of food and a possible famine this year in Kenya, yet these investors shall be producing food to meet their own food [needs]," Muchiri said.

Last week, small-scale farmers from 12 African countries met in Tanzania to discuss the threat of being swallowed up by large estates. The forum, which brought together 150 farmers, was organized by the federation.

The farmers included representatives from Congo, Somali, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, the Comoros and Tanzania.