"ActionAid USA celebrates the collapse of Bagamoyo sugar project"
ActionAid USA which has been campaigning against the project because of allegations of land grabbing by the Swedish company, hailed the collapse saying its victory for poor communities of Bagamoyo. “The project is part of a large-scale agriculture initiative championed by the Obama administration and threatened to displace 1,300 farmers,” ActionAid USA said in a statement to celebrate the government’s decision to scrap the project which has been facing frustrations since 2008.
Praising its team of activists and donors for the success, ActionAid USA said the campaign petitioned US President Barack Obama’s administration. The project was expected to produce 130,000 metric tons of sugar, 100,000 megawatts hours of electricity and 10 million liters of ethanol. “Last year, we presented the Obama administration with nearly 6,000 signatures objecting to the Bagamoyo project and the New Alliance,” Doug Hertzler who is Senior Policy Analyst at ActionAid USA, said in the statement...
“Together with our local partners from Tanzania, we amplified the voices of local farmers at risk from forced evictions by other New Alliance projects,” Hertzler said. The ActionAid USA Senior Policy Analyst said his team visited a longstanding local rice project that had been originally established with Japanese assistance in Bagamoyo which has since been strengthened with new public investment in the irrigation system. “We want to see more of these projects, with governments and local communities determining the best way to develop the disputed land in Bagamoyo to meet local needs and build a strong system of local food production,” he argued.
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