EDITOR’S NOTE: Look no further to find the the main cause of food shortage in the fertile region of Ethiopia. Woyanne agrofuel companies are sucking southern Ethiopia dry.

Gebremedhine Birega, environmentalist, Ethiopia: “It is unbelievable. [Agrofuel] plots have so rapidly expanded that they are even depriving us of space for graveyards…”

To counteract the oppressively high price of imported oil, Ethiopia’s regime put in place a policy incentivizing a shift by farmers to agrofuel crops. The new policy also gave foreign agrofuel companies incentives and a streamlined start-up process for production ventures.

Global Energy Ethiopia acquired 2,700 hectares to grow castor beans for refining into a liquid fuel.

Melis Teka, deputy head of energy regulation and biofuel development, Ethiopia’s ministry of mines: “It is considered a very important area to develop. The balance of payment (spent on petrol) is very high and we want to decrease this burden by encouraging private investment… There is no possibility that arable farmland will be allocated for its purpose…”

9,500+ farmers now grow castor bean plants in the Wolaytta district south of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia’s capital city), many using arable plots. [Wolaytta happens to be one of the hardest hit region of Ethiopia by the so-called ‘Green Famine’. Children in this region are forced to attend school because they are too hungry and weak to attend classes.]

None of the farmers working with Global Energy Ethiopia have received payment because of a bank loan delay.

Ashenafi Chote, farmer, Wolaytta district of Ethopia: “I used to get four quintals (100 kilograms, 220 pounds) of maize from my land from every harvest and earn more than 2,400 birr (240 dollars). But now, I have lost my precious source… I shouldn’t have accepted their offer…” [The profit goes to companies owned by the ruling party.]

Borja Abusha, farmer and father of 8, Wolaytta district of Ethiopia: “Experts… told us we could have up to three harvests a year and they would pay 500 birr (50 dollars) in labour costs… But it has now been six months without a harvest and they haven’t respected their promise to cover costs. We are left with nothing.”

Ethiopian regime officials are giving companies like Global Energy Ethiopia the benefit of the doubt, hoping the projects’ promise will pay off.

Yanai Man, CEO, Global Energy: “We don’t even allow farmers to grow the beans on more than a third of their land. So we are not lowering food production…”

Yet for some reason the farmers and their families are starving, surviving only because there are public relief programs. Almost half of Wolaytta’s population of 2 million do not have enough to eat.

Ashenafi Chote, farmer and father of 2, Ethopia: “I made a mistake”.

Ethiopia is NOT one of the 8 developing countries threatening the European Union (EU) with legal action through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if the EU establishes guidelines on agrofuels. The 8 countries call the EU guidelines “unfair trade barriers.” The guidelines would instruct developing nations which parts of their territory are not considered arable farmland or irreplaceable rain forests and wetlands and therefore suitable for growing biofuel crops.

Letter from the ambassadors of the 8 developing nations: “[The guidelines] impose unjustifiably complex requirements on producers… Some of our countries don’t exclude the possibility of defending their rights in the World Trade Organisation, as a last resort.”

Castor bean plants are toxic but the seed provides castor oil, which can be refined into a biofuel. Farmers say Global Energy Ethiopia lured them into changing their farms over to agrofuels with financial incentives and false promises of continuous harvests.

QUOTES
Letter from the ambassadors of the 8 developing nations: “Provisions relating to land-use change will impinge disproportionately on developing countries, where there are stocks of undeveloped arable land that can be used for biofuels production…”

Gebremedhine Birega, environmentalist, Ethiopia: “We are campaigning for farmers who have planted castor seeds to uproot. It’s not acceptable to undertake such practices in food insecure areas..”

Abraham Tona, farmer, Ethiopia: “I asked myself about the long-term benefits and then decided not to grow castor. I would rather not dare to risk losing food to eat for myself and my family…”

Source: New Energy News Blog