Existence has always been associated with compli- cations, for compli- cations somehow, and as absurdly sounding as this cliche continues to feel, no matter how much the pundits of hard-toiling lifestyles insist on pressing their faith-based views upon the rest of us, enrich our passage on this life-sustaining planet, giving our experiences a certain je ne sais quoi that could be equated with the most pleasing and intoxicating colors, flavors and aromas to have ever been produced, marketed and distributed on a global scale.
And talking about markets of global scales, I recently found out, while browsing the latest edition of the Econimist, that certain developing countries, mostly fervent recipients of food-aid programs, addicted to sweet NGOs interventions, have began leasing large portions of their arable lands to richer foreign governments. Imagine privatization blown into the nth degree, and that's how large these deals are.
How did this come to happen? Well, and to the best of my understanding, it seems that countries such as China, South Korea, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, deterred by the rising price of imported agricultural products and, in some cases the scarcity of water in their own turfs, being major crop importers and all, are choosing to outsource their farming needs.
Now, please forgive me as I raise a suspicious eyebrow, while a few questions begin swirling in my already helplessly crowded cranium in search of clarification. Then allow me to ask the following: How does this type of land acquisition transpire on the ground? How does these large scale land-grabs, water included, affect the local rural populace of such countries as Brazil, Mali, Angola, Tanzania, Cambodia, Sudan, Gabon, Madagascar, and Pakistan? Why am I foreseeing poor farmers being pushed off land they’ve built their lives on for generations? Why am I reminded of certain episodes reminiscent of the colonial era?
Certainly, the fact that the investing governments, in these particular instances, are getting some pretty sweet deals in return, (i.e., tax exemptions, right to import the entire crop back home, the end product being either rice, wheat, barley, or palm oil -you know... for biofuel use- as apposed to a diversely bio-sustainable arrays of food stuffs;) or that a million Chinese laborers, bless their hearts, will be, or are already, transposed on African soil this very year to do work that, I guess, inadequately trained Africans can't possibly comprehend, let alone perform; and let us not forget the use of heavy-duty agricultural technology, mutant seeds, and impossibly sophisticated pesticides, the whole thing amounting to a rather worrisome image, doesn’t help me see the silver lining in this sort of arrangement.
Am I over-reacting? Maybe, I am. Who knows... Surely, I'm just too confused to get a good pragmatic grip on this one.
Be well, and remember not to sweat the small stuff -right?
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