https://grain.org/e/4633

Interview with GRAIN on the ProSavana project

by EJOLT | 13 Dec 2012

"This is where my family is and I won't give up my lands. Where will I go if they take my lands?" Peasants gathered in June 2012 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 within the targetted area.(Photo: 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, offering these 14 million hectares for a dollar per hectare.

Can’t be true? It’s happening in a part of Mozambique. Brazil and Japan are preparing to colonise a big chunk of the country. Hear Firoze Manji interview GRAIN's Devlin Kuyek about all the dirty details of the ProSvana project.

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.

Author: EJOLT
Links in this article:
  • [1] http://www.ejolt.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Firoze__Devlin-Kyek-1_Mix.mp3
  • [2] http://wbai.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10945&Itemid=141