Humanist

“Government and the investor should withdraw the idea of taking our land because we are not ready to lose it,” a land-owning farmer is reported to have emphatically asserted.

This in reaction to the push by Government and the investor, Intracom Fertilizer, to dispose smallholder farming households of their land, in order to make way for establishment of a fertilizer factory project.

The project is seemingly being promoted within the neoliberal economic model, in which the benefit that is being proposed to farmers is reportedly “creation of jobs and provision of affordable Irish potato seedlings.”

Since, the staple food of Sebei sub-region is not Irish Potatoes, it would appear that the proposition being made to the farmers is for them to grow potatoes primarily as a cash crop.

Land-owning farmers are right to reject the proposition to give up ownership of their land and/or the constructive possession of their land in this particular case.

It is a proposition that can potentially push them into poverty – losing their land, home and land-based livelihoods.

And, they may likely loose their autonomy and become subjugated to the economic whims of the factory

Source: Omagor Markson in “Kapchorwa: Bukwo Community rejects fertilizer manufacturing project,” published on East News. CLICK HERE to read it.