Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 21:32:13 +0100
US Dominion Farms' Land Grab in Kenya Destroyed Farmers' Livelihoods,
Blocked Community Access to Water
By <http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/grain> Grain
Global Research, October 27, 2014
"When Burgess came, we did not object to him taking the lands that had
already been allocated to the Government years before for the development of
an experimental farm," says Erastus Odindo, a local farmer. "But Dominion
Farms has put a fence around much more land than that. The company has taken
over all of our community lands without our consent and blocked our access
to water."
Odindo and other local farmers lost nearly all of the lands that they use
for grazing their cattle.
"Burgess mocked our farming methods and said we should abandon our
traditional cattle breed because it was backwards," says Odindo. "But now
he's put a fence around our grazing lands and is using the lands for his own
local cattle. We are losing doubly because he then sells the cattle on the
local market and undercuts us."
The agreements that Dominion Farms signed with local authorities were for a
large scale rice farm. But the company has also gone into cattle,
vegetables, bananas and fish.
"The company produces and sells the same foods we local farmers produce,"
says Odindo. "First Dominion took our lands and water away from us, and now
it is taking our markets. And they are not doing agriculture in a more
efficient way than us local farmers. All the machines they have are just for
making noise."
Dominion's rice farm now extends right up to the edge of Odindo's village.
"When the company sprays pesticides by plane, it comes directly into our
homes, poisoning people and contaminating our water supply," he says.
"Workers also face regular exposure to pesticides."
The local communities accuse Dominion of polluting their soil, water and
air, and of badly damaging the area's biodiversity. They say that it is now
difficult to access clean water because of the pollution by pesticides and
chemical fertilisers, and that this is damaging the health of mothers and
children.
Odindo says that the company's promises of good jobs have also proven to be
a mirage. Most workers are employed on a casual basis, with only a few
watchmen hired as permanent staff. Their pay is irregular and sometimes
late. "The company hasn't been paying wages over the past two months and
people have been wondering if it's in financial problems," says Odindo.
But Dominion still seems intent on grabbing more lands. Having already taken
control of all the lands collectively managed by the communities,, the
company is now aggressively pursuing deals with private land holders. Odindo
says that they believe that Dominion is working with Kenyan millionaires to
secure land for large agriculture projects, such as a sugar cane plantation
that the company is in the initial stages of implementing.
Meanwhile Dominion Farms is also pursuing a new project for a rice
plantation in Taraba State, Nigeria, that would be several times the size of
its Yala Swamp venture. Odindo hopes that the communities in Nigeria can
learn from what his community has gone through and not be duped by
Dominion's promises.
Kenya_locals-Yala-Swamp_JanakCommunications
Yala Swamp (Photo: Janak Communications)
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)