Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2014 14:34:23 +0200
£600m of UK aid fuelling corporate scramble for Africa, claim critics
British government accused of exacerbating poverty and inequality by
prioritising multinational firms over African farmers
* Sam Jones <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/samjones>
* Follow _at_swajones <https://twitter.com/swajones> Follow
_at_gdndevelopment <https://twitter.com/gdndevelopment>
* theguardian.com <http://www.theguardian.com/> ,
* 02 April 2014 10.52 BST
The British government has been accused of helping to carve up
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/africa> Africa in the interests of big
business after it emerged that £600m of
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/aid> aid money has been
allocated to a G8-sponsored scheme
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/18/g8-new-alliance-c
ondemned-new-colonialism> recently described as a new form of colonialism.
The
<http://feedthefuture.gov/article/new-alliance-food-security-and-nutrition-0
> New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, a partnership between donor
countries, multinational companies and 10 African countries, is intended to
accelerate responsible investment in African agriculture and help 50 million
people out of <http://www.theguardian.com/society/poverty> poverty by 2022.
But critics argue that the alliance is exacerbating poverty and inequality
by prioritising its multinational investors over millions of smallholder
farmers on the continent.
Since the scheme was launched in 2012, the 10 countries – Benin, Burkina
Faso, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and
Tanzania – have made more than 200 policy commitments that will make it
easier for companies to do business in Africa.
The Ethiopian government has promised to "refine" its land law to encourage
long-term leases and strengthen the enforcement of commercial farm
contracts; Malawi and Ghana have agreed to set aside thousands of hectares
for commercial investment and Tanzania has committed itself to bolstering
private investment in seeds.
A report by the <http://www.wdm.org.uk> World Development Movement (WDM),
the UK-based anti-poverty campaigners, suggests that the conditions imposed
on African countries may also contravene the British government's aid
policy, which states: "We will not make our aid conditional on specific
policy decisions by partner governments, or attempt to impose policy choices
on them."
According to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted to the
Department for International Development (DfID) by the WDM, the UK has
allocated £600m to the alliance between 2012 and 2016.
Nick Dearden, director of the WDM, said: "It's scandalous that UK aid money
is being used to carve up Africa in the interests of big business. This is
the exact opposite of what is needed, which is support to small-scale
farmers and fairer distribution of land and resources to give African
countries more control over their food systems.
"Africa can produce enough food to feed its people. The problem is that our
food system is geared to the luxury tastes of the richest, not the needs of
ordinary people. Here the British government is using aid money to make the
problem even worse."
The WDM is urging the British government to abandon the apparent
conditionality, to end its support for the alliance, and to rethink its
approach to African food production.
The report notes that although sub-Saharan African food production increased
by 10% per person between 1991 and 2011, there was a 40% increase in the
number of malnourished people over the same period.
"The claim is that the multinational companies involved are 'investing',
that this will lead to growth and thus an end to poverty and hunger," says
the study. "But many of the products and profits are being exported to
developed countries, with the small-scale food producers who feed the
majority of the African population losing out."
A DfID spokesman said: "The only sustainable way to help small-scale farmers
escape poverty is to help them get their goods to national and global
markets and create better paid jobs. Trade and job creation are the means
through which developing countries will become self-sufficient and end their
dependency on aid."
MDG : Dfid and G8 New Alliance : employee at Saudi Star rice farm working in
Gambella, Ethiopia
UK aid money is being used to carve up Africa, the World Development
Movement says. Above, a worker at Saudi Star rice farm in Gambella,
Ethiopia. Photograph: AFP
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)