REPORT/Irresponsible Investment: Agrica’s Broken Development Model in Tanzania

Norfund, the UK aid department, and Capricorn are funding the British company Agrica’s industrial rice plantation in Mngeta, Tanzania, which is destroying the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, driving them into debt and impacting the local environment, according to new research by The Oakland Institute released in collaboration with Greenpeace Africa and Global Justice Now.

Agrica’s rice plantation in Tanzania has been used as a showcase project of the G8’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition and the Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania.

The report, Irresponsible Investment – Agrica’s Broken Development Model in Tanzania, documents a catalogue of devastating impacts on local communities.

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REPORT | Fostering Economic Resilience. The Financial Benefits of Ecological Farming in Kenya and Malawi

The evidence in this report suggests that it is more profitable for small-scale farmers in Africa to practise ecological farming that uses no chemical pesticides or fertilisers than it is to use chemicals. Presenting the results of new fieldwork in Malawi and Kenya, this report shows that farmers practising agroforestry (involving the use of natural ‘fertiliser trees’
instead of chemical fertilisers) and ‘Push-Pull’ technology, which eliminates the need for chemical pesticides) achieve higher incomes and yields than those practising chemical-intensive agriculture.

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