Landgrabbing for Nigeria’s Rice Revolution, Peter Jopke (more...)
“Almost all of us found ourselves in sickbeds when we came back from Kenya.”Nigerian trainee
“When we came back there was no representative in Abuja to welcome us. They promised us a take-off allowance, but on our return we haven’t got anything. Some of us even quit their job and cannot resume.”
Since then, there hasn’t been any contact with the company. Hence, most of them have gone back to their farms. A staff of Dominion assured that the trainees would be engaged as soon as the cultivation takes off. While this disappointing turn of events remains a source of pain and frustration, the annoyance of the trainees is further accentuated. Upon return, a number found out they had been infected by one disease or the other.
“Almost all of us found themselves in sickbeds when we came back from Kenya. Our parents spent a lot of money on our treatment.”
One of the trainees with the dark patches on his face says that he noticed the symptoms after he came back from Kenya. He received a special training in the usage of chemicals just like a next trainee who appears very skinny.
“I was among those who specialized in the use of chemicals for agriculture. Now my doctor says that I suffer from hepatitis B, which was probably worsened by the fact that I was inhaling chemicals. I don’t know what specific kind of chemicals I was working with.”
Their statements reveal a frightening connection to earlier media reports from Kenya.
Nigerian Authorities unaware of Dominion’s bad Records in Kenya
About nine years ago, the American Calvin Burgess founded his first branch of Dominion Farms in Kenya. He acquired 7,000 hectares of marshy land at the Yala Swamp to start his new business. Looking forward to a better future, the locals welcomed the investment. Seven years later, Kenyan media reported a disastrous outcome for them:
“They came with promises and we supported the project, hoping it would change our lives, but now they have turned against us, destroying our very sources of livelihoods,” said Fred Okumu, a local community leader, according to the Kenyan newspaperReject. Locals claim that their livestock die from polluted water. Women cry out about increasing miscarriages, most likely due to the after effects of pollutants.Rejectrefers to awater sample containing a high yield of pollutantsand suggests that it results from Dominion’s usage of chemicals such as the aerial spraying of pesticides and herbicides. In her article “Kenya: Yala Swamp on Death Bed” the journalist Mary Mwendwa reports that people tend to become sick even if they boil the water before consumption. The level of pollution is so high that people could not even keep poultry anymore.
“There hasn’t been any environmental impact assessment on Dominion Farms.”Senior Official, State Ministry of Environment
Additionally,Rejectreports that members of the local community complain that the farm management has blocked water or diverted some canals causing water to flood their farms and destroy crops. This they lamented has further impoverished them.
Back to Nigeria: Ifraim I. Kifasi, Permanent Secretary of Taraba’s State Ministry of Agriculture assured that those experiences in Kenya will not become reality in Nigeria. According to him, he wasn’t aware of the issue before. The realities in the Nigerian context forewarn of similar environmental challenges, especially as the ministries of environment and water resources seem to have been excluded at a certain stage of the project design.
“There hasn’t been any environmental impact assessment on Dominion Farms and we received no order to undertake one”, a senior official of the State Ministry of Environment said. In fact, it is against the law. He explains that order was given at the 7thExecutive Council meeting of Taraba state government that all organizations or companies that wish to undertake a project of this magnitude must summit an environmental impact assessment to the Ministry of Environment.
Alh. Aliyu Jijjiwa, Executive Director of the Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority welcomes the agricultural investment, but at the same times warns: “The usage of chemicals in this area bordered by two rivers is dangerous [...] In that case, you must use what you have most” – referring to the high supply of cheap labour to do weeding by hand.
“Lagos of Cows” closed down
Gassol is a heaven for cattle. During Harmatan, their herds arrive to graze and drink from the waterholes. Their herdsmen become temporary citizens of the local government area. What will happen when the state government fulfil its promise and put up a fence around the area that has been occupied by herdsmen year after year from time immemorial?
According to His Highness, Ardo Guruza, Mutum Biyu, the land acquisition by Dominion Farms will “affect their livelihoods significantly”. Open grazing routes are needed to avoid problems deriving from cattle entering farmland.
“When we came back there was no representative in Abuja to welcome us. They promised us a take-off allowance, but on our return we haven’t got anything. Some of us even quit their job and cannot resume.”
Since then, there hasn’t been any contact with the company. Hence, most of them have gone back to their farms. A staff of Dominion assured that the trainees would be engaged as soon as the cultivation takes off. While this disappointing turn of events remains a source of pain and frustration, the annoyance of the trainees is further accentuated. Upon return, a number found out they had been infected by one disease or the other.
“Almost all of us found themselves in sickbeds when we came back from Kenya. Our parents spent a lot of money on our treatment.”
One of the trainees with the dark patches on his face says that he noticed the symptoms after he came back from Kenya. He received a special training in the usage of chemicals just like a next trainee who appears very skinny.
“I was among those who specialized in the use of chemicals for agriculture. Now my doctor says that I suffer from hepatitis B, which was probably worsened by the fact that I was inhaling chemicals. I don’t know what specific kind of chemicals I was working with.”
Their statements reveal a frightening connection to earlier media reports from Kenya.
Nigerian Authorities unaware of Dominion’s bad Records in Kenya
About nine years ago, the American Calvin Burgess founded his first branch of Dominion Farms in Kenya. He acquired 7,000 hectares of marshy land at the Yala Swamp to start his new business. Looking forward to a better future, the locals welcomed the investment. Seven years later, Kenyan media reported a disastrous outcome for them:
“They came with promises and we supported the project, hoping it would change our lives, but now they have turned against us, destroying our very sources of livelihoods,” said Fred Okumu, a local community leader, according to the Kenyan newspaperReject. Locals claim that their livestock die from polluted water. Women cry out about increasing miscarriages, most likely due to the after effects of pollutants.Rejectrefers to awater sample containing a high yield of pollutantsand suggests that it results from Dominion’s usage of chemicals such as the aerial spraying of pesticides and herbicides. In her article “Kenya: Yala Swamp on Death Bed” the journalist Mary Mwendwa reports that people tend to become sick even if they boil the water before consumption. The level of pollution is so high that people could not even keep poultry anymore.
“There hasn’t been any environmental impact assessment on Dominion Farms.”Senior Official, State Ministry of Environment
Additionally,Rejectreports that members of the local community complain that the farm management has blocked water or diverted some canals causing water to flood their farms and destroy crops. This they lamented has further impoverished them.
Back to Nigeria: Ifraim I. Kifasi, Permanent Secretary of Taraba’s State Ministry of Agriculture assured that those experiences in Kenya will not become reality in Nigeria. According to him, he wasn’t aware of the issue before. The realities in the Nigerian context forewarn of similar environmental challenges, especially as the ministries of environment and water resources seem to have been excluded at a certain stage of the project design.
“There hasn’t been any environmental impact assessment on Dominion Farms and we received no order to undertake one”, a senior official of the State Ministry of Environment said. In fact, it is against the law. He explains that order was given at the 7thExecutive Council meeting of Taraba state government that all organizations or companies that wish to undertake a project of this magnitude must summit an environmental impact assessment to the Ministry of Environment.
Alh. Aliyu Jijjiwa, Executive Director of the Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority welcomes the agricultural investment, but at the same times warns: “The usage of chemicals in this area bordered by two rivers is dangerous [...] In that case, you must use what you have most” – referring to the high supply of cheap labour to do weeding by hand.
“Lagos of Cows” closed down
Gassol is a heaven for cattle. During Harmatan, their herds arrive to graze and drink from the waterholes. Their herdsmen become temporary citizens of the local government area. What will happen when the state government fulfil its promise and put up a fence around the area that has been occupied by herdsmen year after year from time immemorial?
According to His Highness, Ardo Guruza, Mutum Biyu, the land acquisition by Dominion Farms will “affect their livelihoods significantly”. Open grazing routes are needed to avoid problems deriving from cattle entering farmland.
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