AGROFUELS AGAINST AGRICULTURE IN ETHIOPIA AND THE EU

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

Ethiopia is impoverished and landlocked in the Horn of Africa.

To counteract the oppressively high price of imported oil, Ethiopia put in place a policy incentivizing a shift by farmers to agrofuel crops. The new policy also gave foreign agrofuels 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.

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…"

Borja Abusha, farmer & 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 authorities 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 & father of 2, Ethopia: "I made a mistake".

click to enlarge

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 rainforests 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."

The EU will reach a decision on how to proceed next year.

Ethiopia might find some guidelines useful.

click to enlarge

Starving and penniless, Ethiopian farmers rue biofuel choice
November 5, 2008 (AFP)
and
Eight nations warn EU over biofuel barriers
Pete Harrison, 6 November 2008 (Reuters)

WHO
Ethiopian farmers; Global Energy Ethiopia (Yanai Man, CEO); 8 developing countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Indonesia and Malaysia); the European Union (EU); the World Trade Organisation (WTO)

WHAT
- Because Ethiopia was choked by high oil prices, the government allocated 400,000+ hectares (988,000 acres) for agrofuel crops as part of a national development strategy. Now several thousand farmers complain they have been “duped” into growing agrofuel crops on fertile land instead of the region's staple crops of maize, cassava and sweet potato while their families go hungry.
- 8 developing countries have threatened the EU with legal action through the WTO if it attempts to impose limits on their agrofuels development.

Food vs. Fuel? (click to enlarge

WHEN
- 2007: The Ethiopian government enacted the energy policy that included incentives for farmers to switch to agrofuels crops like castor bean plants.
- Ashenafi Chote did subsistence farming for 10 years.
- Chote and other farmers switched to castor bean plants several months ago.
- Farmers who switch back will be without income or support for months before new food crops come in.
- The EU is in the process of requiring members to obtain 10% of all road transport fuel from New Energy sources by 2020. It has amended pending requirements to eliminate the use of food crops for agrofuels.

WHERE
- Ashenafi Chote’s small farm is in the Wolaytta district, 350 kilometres (215 miles) south of the capital Addis Ababa in southern Ethiopia.
- Ethiopia is in the famous Horn of Africa on the continent’s east coast.
- Global Energy Ethiopia is an American-Israeli company.

WHY
- Ashenafi Chote’s small farm fed his family of 4 until he converted to an agrofuel crop. Since then he has had no income and his family depends on relief for food.
- Chote’s sprawling farmlands region has often suffered drought and food shortages.
- The thorny foliage of castor bean stalks is slowly replacing maize fields.
- Only 18% of the Horn of Africa’s million+ square kilometres (386,000 square miles) is cultivated.
- 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.
- Global Energy Ethiopia has invested ~ $2 million in Ethiopian projects and plans to protect the environment and provide education and medical services to impoverished locals.
- The EU guidelines sustain the development of biofuels where they can be grown without imposing pressure for the use of food crop lands, rainforests or wetlands.
- Developing nations want the right to use their resources for their own benefit.

Pondering agrofuels guidelines in Ethiopia? (click to enlarge)

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…"