0:00:42 > 0:00:47Hungry and angry, another food riot breaks out on the streets of Algeria.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49The world food crisis is growing.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Desperate times call for desperate measures,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55and for the millions of people around the world struggling to buy
0:00:55 > 0:00:58the most basic of foodstuffs, these are desperate times.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01The image of troops at rice distribution centres is
0:01:01 > 0:01:03fast becoming a regular sight in Asia.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Rich countries are racing to buy and lease agricultural land abroad
0:01:11 > 0:01:14and secure their food supplies for the future.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Africa, known for its fertile land and low-priced agricultural
0:01:17 > 0:01:20real estate has become the target of wealthy investors.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35The first generation of land grab was called colonisation.
0:02:35 > 0:02:36We've been through that.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Today, we must learn that deals can be structured,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43really in a way that they benefit the local communities
0:02:43 > 0:02:45but also the investors.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50Those investors, our private sector partners that are going out
0:02:50 > 0:02:52and doing the straight land grabbing.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56Fully mechanising and not in any way bringing in small growers or
0:02:56 > 0:02:59community, you might as well put yourself on death row.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03The project will not last. Socially, it will not last.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06I mean, this is a classic problem across the whole continent
0:03:06 > 0:03:08in different versions.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12Clarity of land, who has land, who doesn't, how do you negotiate?
0:03:12 > 0:03:15We've moved away from not talking about it.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18We now have to move to actually being able to do it.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53Africa has a very critical asset for food production,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55for the global community.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Nearly 60% of the arable land worldwide that's available
0:03:58 > 0:04:00today is in Africa.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04And it's estimated that near half of hungry people are also farmers.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08So farmers are not producing enough to eat.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58First works?
0:04:58 > 0:05:00The first office block.
0:05:00 > 0:05:0550 offices and dining rooms, two places for prayers.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10So this is actually centred where the fields will be
0:05:10 > 0:05:11when we develop them.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14This will be almost centred
0:05:14 > 0:05:18because it occupies an area quite west of the centre.
0:05:18 > 0:05:19It is fabulous.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23- Finally. - HE LAUGHS
0:05:23 > 0:05:25- Finally something. - Finally something, yes.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26Finally, the beginning.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Mima Nedelcovych is an American agricultural developer
0:05:41 > 0:05:45who has built sugar plantations all over Africa.
0:05:45 > 0:05:51Now, Mima is finalising plans for a vast industrial sugar operation
0:05:51 > 0:05:56in the centre of Mali, one of Africa's poorest nations.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05If successful, his plan - known as the Markala Sugar Project or
0:06:05 > 0:06:11Sosumar - promises to kick-start the industrialisation of Mali's economy.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18Sosumar intends to lease 200-sq-KM from the Malian government
0:06:18 > 0:06:23in the country's most fertile farming region,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28the Office du Niger, for a plantation and factory.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32The plan, to build 200 sugar pivots,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36means that thousands of local families,
0:06:36 > 0:06:41many of whom have farmed here for generations, will lose their land.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50When Sosumar takes control of the land, Mima is asking these
0:06:50 > 0:06:55displaced farmers to become contracted sugarcane growers,
0:06:55 > 0:07:01each one cultivating a small portion of the vast plantation.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05The innovative part of the project is that we're very much
0:07:05 > 0:07:10looking at a core operation with small independent out-growers.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14The beauty of this, if you will, is creating a whole series
0:07:14 > 0:07:16of independent farmers around us.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20So as we develop 70 hectare of pivots
0:07:20 > 0:07:23so will be six-seven families or so that will tend to those 70 hectares.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27We're actually creating a new class of commercial farmers
0:07:27 > 0:07:29that will grow out over time.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00The independent small grower out here with his millet.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02The family with their one or two hectares.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04They're living here the way they did,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06the same families, 300 years ago. There's no change.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11By bringing it into larger schemes and value-added production,
0:08:11 > 0:08:15you're bringing the small farmer into the value chain.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19It's giving them a reason to produce more than what they eat.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Agriculture is a culture. It's a way of life.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52And every time you change a way of life,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56you create uncertainty about the distribution of benefits and risks.
0:10:56 > 0:11:03And so these debates are an integral part of changing any cultural system.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21THEY LAUGH
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Mima's involvement with Sosumar
0:12:38 > 0:12:41began well before the world food crisis.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45The Malian government approached him in 2000
0:12:45 > 0:12:51with the goal of transforming Mali into a sugar-exporting nation.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55We initially identified, if you will, the project,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58conceptually speaking, a little over ten years ago now.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00Beginning in 2000.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03It's a complex public-private project
0:13:03 > 0:13:06and it is a first of its kind in the size that it is,
0:13:06 > 0:13:11so getting all the pieces in place in Mali takes longer.
0:13:11 > 0:13:12It's more difficult.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Sosumar is now a 600 million partnership between the
0:13:16 > 0:13:21Government of Mali, Mima's Louisiana-based consulting firm,
0:13:21 > 0:13:26and Africa's largest sugar producer, Illovo Sugar from South Africa.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30It is financed by 17 lenders including
0:13:30 > 0:13:35the African Development Bank, the South Korean Export-Import bank,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38and the Saudi-based Islamic Finance Corporation.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42- Nick, how are you? - Good to see you.- Nice to see you.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58Although construction work at the factory site has begun,
0:13:58 > 0:14:01the complex package of loan agreements is yet to be
0:14:01 > 0:14:04ratified by the Malian Government.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09Until everything is finalised, Mima and his partners are paying
0:14:09 > 0:14:12for rising costs out of their own pockets.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16I think by way of introduction, there has been progress on many
0:14:16 > 0:14:21aspects of the project since the board last met in May.
0:14:21 > 0:14:27But really we're not moving as fast as the Sosumar board had expected.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30If we can clear out all of the remaining issues,
0:14:30 > 0:14:36it will allow the African Development Bank to conduct its project launch.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38OK, just a quick update.
0:14:38 > 0:14:44As of the 31st of October, our total spend is 16.8 million.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48And this was primarily because of the increased ramp up
0:14:48 > 0:14:50in spending in the current ten months.
0:15:29 > 0:15:30OK. All right.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36One of the problems that plague peasant societies,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39smallholder societies, is that peasants don't own their land.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42They date from a time when there was no land ownership.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45So when you have people who belong to this vastly different
0:16:45 > 0:16:46kind of land regime,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49they're vulnerable to any force of the state or a company that
0:16:49 > 0:16:53can come in and literally pull the resources out from under their feet.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00The question is, who owns Africa, who owns the land?
0:17:00 > 0:17:02Is it the people of Africa,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06the ordinary farmers who own the land, or is it their governments?
0:17:06 > 0:17:13Only about 10% of Africa is under European-type entitlement.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18So that means 90% of the land belongs to who?
0:17:19 > 0:17:23The Office du Niger farming region is
0:17:23 > 0:17:27the creation of the French colonial regime, dating from the 1930s.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31To grow rice and cotton for their empire,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34the colonisers seized millions of hectares.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37They dammed the Niger River,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40and cleared the land for industrial farming.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Ibrahima Coulibaly is the head of the Malian Farmers Union,
0:18:08 > 0:18:13and an architect of the Global Food Sovereignty movement.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18Until 2008, Ibrahima had spent his career working with
0:18:18 > 0:18:22the Malian government to improve its agriculture policy.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01After years of Ibrahima's lobbying,
0:19:01 > 0:19:06Mali became one of the first countries in the world to adopt
0:19:06 > 0:19:10Food Sovereignty as government policy, in 2006.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41When the world food crisis struck in 2008,
0:19:41 > 0:19:46Ibrahima saw his role transformed.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01AUDIENCE APPLAUD
0:20:09 > 0:20:13As the government began leasing land to foreign investors
0:20:13 > 0:20:17like the Libyans, Chinese, Ukrainians, Saudi Arabians
0:20:17 > 0:20:22and Senegalese, Ibrahima dedicated himself to fighting
0:20:22 > 0:20:26the violence and abuse that accompanied their arrival.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Sosumar has polarised opinion between the many
0:23:48 > 0:23:50villages in this area.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Often less than a kilometre apart, some villages wholeheartedly
0:23:54 > 0:23:58support Sosumar, while others are staunchly opposed.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05For us, it's clear the community, the local population must buy in.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08So we have been spending a lot of time with the local population.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Both the village elders, the chiefs
0:24:10 > 0:24:13to envision what this place could become.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53When Sosumar does begin planting,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57local farmers that lose their land must make a choice
0:25:57 > 0:26:01either they sign up with Mima and begin farming sugarcane
0:26:01 > 0:26:06on the Sosumar plantation, or they opt out and are given
0:26:06 > 0:26:11a new piece of land outside the project area as compensation.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Land isn't the only valuable commodity here.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17To make way for the pivots,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21Sosumar must cut down thousands of karite trees,
0:26:21 > 0:26:23used to make shea butter,
0:26:23 > 0:26:27an important source of income for local women.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32- We have some karite trees.- There?
0:26:32 > 0:26:34That one, yeah.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Now those that have to be removed...
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Yeah.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42- That's where we have the issue. - We have to replant them.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47We replant more than the number we take away.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50The grafted species of karite can produce after six years.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53So then the population actually gets a young productive tree
0:26:53 > 0:26:55versus the old ones.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57Some of these aren't even producing any more.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59So it's a real win-win.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Well, they have a few years they won't have any income though.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12Sosumar's funding from the African Development Bank
0:27:12 > 0:27:14comes with conditions attached.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21They must follow strict guidelines on involuntary displacement,
0:27:21 > 0:27:26or the treatment of farmers who lose their land because of the project.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29- Bonjour.- Ca va?
0:27:29 > 0:27:31- Bonjour.- Ca va bien.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43A series of attacks at the sugar-cane site
0:27:43 > 0:27:46is complicating matters.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Change is difficult for everyone.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21It's more difficult for those that had the least change
0:32:21 > 0:32:23and traditionally haven't had change.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26Because they don't know it. It's the unknown.
0:32:26 > 0:32:33But the key is, the scratch peasant farmer to become slowly, with time,
0:32:33 > 0:32:36a small commercial farmer and then a larger commercial farmer.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39But if you want to be so respectful
0:32:39 > 0:32:42that you say, "Any change in my input is not good."
0:32:42 > 0:32:44Then you know what, pack your bags and leave.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Then what's the point of being here? What is the point of being here?
0:35:12 > 0:35:16On behalf of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19I want to welcome you to this symposium.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24On my left, we have the Minister of Agriculture from Mali.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28Welcome, Minister.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31In this case, I will help translate for the minister.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33AUDIENCE LAUGH
0:35:33 > 0:35:35We are partners after all. Have been for ten years in Mali.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38So this is all an extension of our partnership.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49We were all equally struck as others by the food crisis of 2008 and 2009.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09Nick, it's Mima. I think we've got a bad connection.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12Can you hear me OK or not?
0:36:12 > 0:36:14DIAL TONE
0:36:14 > 0:36:16I got cut off.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21I'm trying to get the date for the closing of all of the
0:36:21 > 0:36:25financing by end of the year so we can get on with the groundbreaking.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27That's the target.
0:36:27 > 0:36:28OK, Nick. Can you hear me?
0:36:28 > 0:36:31I am outside now, hopefully we've got better connection.
0:36:31 > 0:36:32Can you hear me OK?
0:36:32 > 0:36:36Has the Minister responded to your letter on that December launch?
0:36:39 > 0:36:42All right, so in a kind of a back-assed way, we're getting there.
0:36:44 > 0:36:50I mean, this project Markala Sugar, Sosumar is the definer of projects.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55I mean, this will be THE largest investment of its kind
0:36:55 > 0:36:57in agro-industry in Africa today.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04You know, Africa is coming to its real fruition
0:37:04 > 0:37:08in terms of real business, real potential coming up,
0:37:08 > 0:37:11so this is not the time to hang up the boots.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25AUDIENCE APPLAUD
0:38:25 > 0:38:31We're beginning to see real anger about people losing their land,
0:38:31 > 0:38:36and we know already that many civil wars and social conflict
0:38:36 > 0:38:40is driven by land grievance, particularly in Africa.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42Rwanda, there were elements of that,
0:38:42 > 0:38:47certainly Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa.
0:38:47 > 0:38:54So we can expect a lot of conflict, a lot of protest on the issue of
0:38:54 > 0:38:57is this our land, or is this government land to give away?
0:39:52 > 0:39:55We're not trying to impose timelines on anybody,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58but we do want everybody to work out with our set-up
0:39:58 > 0:40:01timelines which are realistic and achievable.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03And then everybody commit to actually getting there.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05We have to get it done this time.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09Cheers, man. Ciao.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06They have to go to the National Assembly to re-ratify
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and after that...
0:41:08 > 0:41:09HE GROANS
0:41:09 > 0:41:11Then they can do the launching.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21That's fine. We all understand that as well,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24but we need a roadmap through to the end of this process
0:41:24 > 0:41:27so that people can see what steps are going to have to happen
0:41:27 > 0:41:28in what order.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32We don't have one just now and we're crazy if we just say,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35"Let's go one step and then see where we are after one step".
0:41:35 > 0:41:36We're mad, we're irresponsible.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56If we want to carry on defending this current timeline,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59then you would have to ask the board now,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02this board meeting for another 70 millions RAMs,
0:42:02 > 0:42:09another 10 million US, just to take us through to March.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13So, to de-risk this thing,
0:42:13 > 0:42:17basically, anything that's a new commitment to the project,
0:42:17 > 0:42:19we stop it. And we stop it like now.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21Almost like a crash stop.
0:42:25 > 0:42:26Yeah. Yeah.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32But still, I think there are options...
0:42:32 > 0:42:34It's a simple fact. The money has run out.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37There is nothing left in the account. Let's look at the bank account.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40Zero. How much can I spend out of zero? Zero.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44Thank you very much. So that's... So now, what happens next?
0:43:21 > 0:43:25Mali is a personal issue in that...
0:43:26 > 0:43:31..maybe not even 100 kilometres from here, back in 1990...
0:43:31 > 0:43:33That's what? 22 years now.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37I had a major car accident and I lost my father.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40I survived. I don't know why.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44Maybe to do this. So at certain points, you know,
0:43:44 > 0:43:46when the President says, "Why are you so tetu?
0:43:46 > 0:43:48"Why are you so hard-headed in making this go?
0:43:48 > 0:43:50"It's difficult, bag it."
0:43:50 > 0:43:54I said, "No, I can't." It has to happen because at some point
0:43:54 > 0:43:57when this is up and running and as the area's developed,
0:43:57 > 0:44:01then we see the change in the people, and it gets going,
0:44:01 > 0:44:03I will then go left on that road when we turn right,
0:44:03 > 0:44:06another 100 kilometres towards where that accident site is,
0:44:06 > 0:44:08and say, "OK, let's break the spirit now."
0:44:59 > 0:45:02These farms, if they are structured properly,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05they will start to function as schools.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07Training Africans to upgrade their labour.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10And this is Africa's weakest link,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13the absence of enterprises through which people can
0:45:13 > 0:45:14acquire practical skills.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20How much are we running into the caretaker administration
0:46:20 > 0:46:22waiting for elections to happen?
0:46:22 > 0:46:25When we're under election period it's more difficult.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28But how important is it for the President to have a groundbreaking
0:46:28 > 0:46:30while he's still president?
0:46:30 > 0:46:32Very important for him.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36As a matter of fact, the Minister herself,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40she said to the Prime Minister that we think that we may be
0:46:40 > 0:46:43ready for groundbreaking in December.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45What needs to be done?
0:46:45 > 0:46:48What still can be done or should be done, must be done informally.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50I guess that's what needs to be done.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53I'm sure formally we're doing everything.
0:49:27 > 0:49:28GUNFIRE
0:50:06 > 0:50:12Mali's coup came just a month before the Presidential elections.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15Soldiers, angry about the government's handling
0:50:15 > 0:50:19of a separatist uprising in the north, rebelled.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24The Government simply melted away.
0:50:25 > 0:50:30This past year, the administration put in a caretaker government,
0:50:30 > 0:50:32waiting for the elections to happen.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34Nobody was making decisions
0:50:34 > 0:50:38and that frustration, ironically, was what the military felt when they
0:50:38 > 0:50:41weren't getting responses when they were fighting their war up north.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43In a kidding sense,
0:50:43 > 0:50:45I was thinking with our partners maybe we should have invaded
0:50:45 > 0:50:48the Ministry of Industry because they were not responding.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55The next day, Sosumar began to withdraw all its foreign employees.
0:50:56 > 0:51:03Banks froze their lending to Mali and Sosumar's funding dried up.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12Neighbouring investors, that had ignored the needs of local farmers,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15continued with their industrial operations,
0:51:15 > 0:51:19while Mima's more progressive dreams lay in tatters.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34There will be a lot of disappointed people.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37A lot of disappointed people.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42Mima turned his attention to Nigeria.
0:51:44 > 0:51:50As the country tries to wean itself off decades of oil dependency,
0:51:50 > 0:51:55Nigeria is aggressively courting agri-business investment.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58We have stopped treating agriculture as a development project.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03Because it is not a development project. Agriculture is a business.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05It's got to be structured exactly that way.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07CROWD APPLAUD
0:52:12 > 0:52:15- Nice to meet you. - Thank you very much.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18As you said in your presentation,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21agriculture for me has to be scaled up.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24At the same time, that does not mean land grabbing, so for us,
0:52:24 > 0:52:27the critical part is all of our projects integrate the community
0:52:27 > 0:52:30and the contract growers and independent growers.
0:52:30 > 0:52:31Call them what you want,
0:52:31 > 0:52:34but the individual growers are brought into the scheme.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36What do I see in Nigeria?
0:52:36 > 0:52:39The Minister, the Government says, "OK, here's our vision.
0:52:39 > 0:52:45"This is how we envision to develop agriculture in our country."
0:52:45 > 0:52:46All right. Thank you.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50We did not get that from Mali.
0:52:50 > 0:52:56That vision, and that concerted commitment to the vision,
0:52:56 > 0:52:58was not there.
0:53:06 > 0:53:11For Ibrahima, the coup seems like an opportunity,
0:53:11 > 0:53:16a chance to return to the food sovereignty policies of pre-2008.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37But as with Mima,
0:53:37 > 0:53:42his path is clouded by the uncertainties of Mali's future.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06You would think that in 2012
0:56:06 > 0:56:10things would be getting better for the global poor.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14In actual fact, they are being assaulted on all sides.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17Farming is becoming harder with climate change.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19Water is less available.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23And then on top of that, they are facing
0:56:23 > 0:56:28whole new levels of vulnerability with their land rights.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31Do we expect them to take this lying down?
0:56:31 > 0:56:33Or if we are more realistic,
0:56:33 > 0:56:39will we see a 21st century agrarian population resist and could
0:56:39 > 0:56:44this lead to quite significant social conflict and even civil war?
0:56:55 > 0:56:58We've moved away from not talking about it.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01We now have to move to actually being able to do it.
0:57:41 > 0:57:46Get insights into land rights and food security in Africa. Go to:
0:57:58 > 0:58:01Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd