Sugar cane and indigenous people

Sugar Cane and Indigenous People
November 2010
Altare Caroline
Engineering School of Montpellier
SupAgro, France
altare@supagro.inra.fr
With the kind contributions of:
Simone Rettberg, University of Bayreuth, Germany;
Tom Odero Ombogo, Kenyatta University, Kenya;
Francesco Sincich, University of Genoa, Italy;
Olivier Genevieve, NGO Ethical Sugar,Groupe Inessc France
Ethical-Sugar

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Contents
About the contributors p. 3
About Ethical Sugar p. 4
Introduction p. 5
The impact of sugar cane plantations on pastoral livehoods p.7
within the Afar region of Ethiopia
The likely impact of sugar cane plantations on pastoral livehoods p. 13
by the proposed Tana River Delta sugar cane project in Kenya
The impact of commercial farming on the Guarani tribe in Brazil p. 17
Conclusion p. 21
References p. 22
Appendixes p.23
- Tana river project and environmental protection - Nature Kenya
- Survival complain: Shell in row over Brazilian Indian land grab
28 September 2010
- Guarani people (Brazil) and land issues regarding multinationals
- Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels criterias regarding indigenous

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About the contributors
Simone Rettberg
Senior Researcher at the Department for Population and Social Geography
University of Bayreuth, Germany
Tom Odero Ombogo
Kenyatta University, Department of Environmental Planning & Management, Kenya.
Francesco Sincich
External co-worker in the Department of Anthropology of the University of Genoa, Italy
and anthropologist for MSF
Caroline Altare
Coordinator of the study, Agricultural engineer student at Montpellier SupAgro, France
Olivier Geneviève
Ethical Sugar NGO founder, Professor in Business school Group INSEEC France

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About Ethical Sugar
. This research was undertaken for Ethical Sugar, an NGO that seeks to enhance
dialogue within the sugar-ethanol industry with a view to improving its social and
environmental sustainability. Trade unions, companies, civil society activists and
academics are all brought together as part of this dialogue, which allows Ethical Sugar to
construct a more rounded vision of the different situations and positions that pertain in
the industry.
In 2009, Ethical sugar obtained a score 8 out of the maximum of 10 on NGO
Transparency barometer from the Prometheus Foundation. In 2010, Ethical Sugar
obtained the maximum notation from Prometheus Foundation
The Prometheus Foundation was launched on December 27, 2005 by French
parliamentarians.
In 2008, Ethical sugar joined the international Sustainable Earth Alliance network.
Sustainable Earth is an informal alliance, made up of individuals and organizations with
a willingness to work sufficiently strong to match the challenges they face. These men
and women together build synergies, a relationship of trust and concrete initiatives.
Since 2006, Ethical Sugar has been a member of the Better Sugarcane Initiative (BSI).
The BSI is a global multi-stakeholder non-pro$ t initiative dedicated to reduce the
environmental and social impacts of sugar cane production.
Since 2010 Ethical-Sugar is member of the chamber 4 fr Social Rights of the RSB. The
Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) is an international initiative coordinated by
the Energy Center at EPFL in Lausanne that brings together farmers, companies, non-
governmental organizations, experts, governments, and inter-governmental agencies
concerned with ensuring the sustainability of biofuels production and processing.

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Introduction
Francesco Sincich
There are many studies about the conflict between agroindustry and local, traditional
economies over what is usually considered a modernization process. We could
approach the question from different points of view: ecologically, economically, or
culturally, where “cultural” is interpreted as the defense of a “genuine” and “primitive” life
in the face of globalization. Yet what is necessary in each case is that we reconsider our
faith that the Western modernism is the way of developing and that all other people must
pass through this transition. It’s not easy, because our way of thinking has been
embedded through centuries of capitalist development. Even Western opposition to
capitalism has still been wedded to the idea of progress as requiring industrialization and
urbanization. Indeed, Marx himself was one of the first to suggest that all peoples in the
world would have to pass through capitalism in order to achieve socialism and ultimately
communism.
In the 1960s, many countries of the so-called Third World decided to engage themselves
in big agroindustrial projects, with the aim of becoming self-sufficient in grains and to
increase export earnings to be used for national development initiatives. In practice, as
underlined by Kassa Getachew speaking of Ethiopia, “large-scale irrigation schemes run
by private agricultural investors and the state…have failed to live up the government’s
expectations such as bringing foreign currency, food security, provision of raw materials,
creation of jobs, and transforming pastoralists into self-sufficient sedentary farmers and
ranchers”1
. Food security is just the last issue possible to reach in that way, because
everywhere monocultures destroyed the small-scale farms and any other agricultural
production. As regards the foreign currency, the money given by the big agroindustrial
investors is never enough to start something else, because many countries offer their
land, and in that competition the investors get the best price for them.
1
Getachew, Kassa Negussie. Among the Pastoral Afar in Ethiopia. Tradition, Continuity and
Socio-Economic Change. Utrecht/Addis Ababa, International Books/OSSREA, 2001, p. 95.

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In the clash between agroindustry and local communities, it’s not a matter of defending
disappearing cultures to preserve original, “out-of-date” populations as if they are
endangered species, but to prevent the destruction of modes of production and
livelihoods adapted to the context, selected by it and balanced with it. Of course, while
preserving and supporting, say, Afar nomadic pastoralism in Ethiopia, might well be
could be a very good investment for the future of Afar and of Ethiopia together, it also
compromises foreign and national investors who want to sponsor a different kind of
development.
The damages provoked by such big projects don’t limit themselves to the destruction of
the local livelihoods. The automatic consequences of these capital-intensive investments
are the imposed, violent change of the traditions and ways of life of the concerned local
communities. Everybody knows that any culture is dynamic and undergoes changes
continuously, but people should have the time and the means to change and not to be
obliged to sell their bodies for wage labor and disown their traditions under rapid
conditions of globalization. Until now the impact with the modernization didn’t give
positive results for the “modernized” people, who had to surrender instead of interacting
with it, giving up their culture to end up trying any way to benefit of the only material
gain: a large availability of consumer goods for whom is able to buy them. So, young
men and women risk their life to reach Europe to provide families with money, young
girls exchange sex with several men to buy fashionable clothes, and so on.
It’s not our aim to criminalize the sugar industry, but every time we look at a big
investment coming out of Europe, we should think also about what means for people in
countries with very different traditions and understandings.

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The impact of sugar cane plantations on pastoral livelihoods
within the Afar region of Ethiopia
By Simone Rettberg
The Afar region of Ethiopia is one of nine administrative regions, located within the
northeastern lowlands, bordering Djibouti to the east and Eritrea to the north. The area is
characterized by a harsh climate with temperatures up to 40°C, highly variable average
precipitation between 600 and 5 mm annually and recurrent droughts and floods. More
than 90% of the inhabitants of the region are Afar, an ethnic group of mainly pastoralists
who also live in parts of Eritrea and Djibouti (Fig. 1). Mobile pastoralism is the dominant
type of land use due to its high adaptive capacity which is based on spatial mobility and
flexible use of dispersed pasture and water resources over space and time. The
livelihood of most of the 1.4 million Afar who are the main inhabitants of the Afar region
depend on mixed stocks of camels, cattle, sheep and goats (Central Statistical Authority,
2008).
Fig. 1: Overview of the Afar region, Ethiopia.
Coloured: The Afar triangle, area inhabited by
Afar people. Source: Rettberg 2009
The only areas suitable for irrigated farming
are the seasonally inundated flood plains
along the Awash River, which is one of the
longest rivers of Ethiopia (1,200 km). This
originates in the humid Ethiopian Highlands
and dries in a salt lake (Abbe) at the
Ethiopian-Djibouti border (Fig. 1).
Until the middle of the 20th century, the Afar
region was dominated by mobile pastoralism
and most Afar were not involved in farming. It
was only the Aussa sultanate, located in the
upper Awash valley around Assayta, whose
socio-economic and political development was
shaped by a century-old history of sedentary
feudal agro-pastoralism. Afar clans within the
sultanate were and are still intensely involved
in small-scale irrigation agriculture (maize, date palms, sorghum) within the fertile interior
delta of the Awash River.2
2
The upper Awash valley, located between the sources of the Awash and the town of Awash, is
characterized by annual precipitation of more than 750mm which enables rainfed agriculture. This
area is mainly inhabited by Oromo and Amhara people. The middle and lower valley is dominated
by Afar. The middle Awash valley extends from Awash town up to Gewane, the lower valley
contains the most north-eastern parts of the Awash, including the sultanate of Aussa.

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In the second half of the 20th century the Ethiopian state increased its interventions in
the area significantly due to economic and geopolitical interests. It was considered
important to strengthen the governmental monopoly of power within the peripheral, semi-
autonomous region, which had remained relatively independent. Due to the location of
the Afar region between the Ethiopian Highlands and the Red Sea it became a strategic
bottleneck for the transfer of trade goods to and from the ports. The economic interest of
the imperial government under Haile Selassie centered on the extraction of salt from the
salt lakes in northern Afar and the exploitation of the agricultural potential along the
banks of the Awash.
From the 1950s large irrigation schemes were implemented that transformed major parts
of the pastoral dry season grazing areas into commercial farms, causing a substantial
loss of communal pastures and increased food insecurity for a growing number of
pastoralists (Bondestam, 1974; Kloos, 1982; Gamaledin, 1987; Gebre-Mariam, 1994;
Said, 1997). The construction of the Koka dam in 1962 and the establishment of the first
large commercial farm signalled the new interest of the government, which had
recognized the economic potential of Afar and begun to establish agro-capitalist
structures. The main objectives of the introduction of commercial irrigation agriculture
were increased food production, the generation of foreign revenue through the
production of cash crops (cotton and sugar cane) and the transformation of mobile
pastoralism, which was regarded as a backward production system and culture, towards
sedentary agro-pastoralism.
The responsible organization for the planning and implementation of the agricultural
development projects was the Awash Valley Authority (AVA) which had received the
land rights along the Awash by the government. Customary land rights of the Afar clans
who used the areas along the river as dry season grazing area and drought retreat were
not considered at all, and the AVA started to give concessions to foreign investors (Fig.
2). In 1971 the irrigated area had expanded up to 48.900 ha (60% cotton, 22% sugar
cane, 12% grain, 6% fruits and vegetables) (Gamaledin 1987).
Fig 2: The six largest irrigation farms in the Awash valley in 1970
Farm and year of
establishment
Location Size
Owner/
Concessonaires
Products
Farms in Aussa 14.200 ha Sultan Ali Mirah Cotton
Tendaho Plantations
Share Company (1960)
Lower Awash valley
8.200 ha
British: Mitchell
Cotts
Cotton
H.V.A. Wonji & Shoa
(1954/1960)
6.840 ha Dutch: H.V.A. Sugar cane
H.V.A. Metahara (1968) 4.000 ha Dutch: H.V.A. Sugar cane
Abadir (1964) 2.800 ha Israelis Cotton, fruit
Nura Era (1964)
Upper Awash valley
2.000 ha Italians Cotton
Source: Rettberg 2009 (after Bondestam 1974)

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The regional focal point for commercial cotton production was the area around Assayta
and Tendaho (sultanate of Aussa) within the lower Awash valley, while sugarcane was
cultivated by the Dutch company HVA on three schemes (Wonji, Shoa, Metahara) within
the upper areas of the valley close to Highland areas. A case in point was the
establishment of the HVA Metahara sugar cane plantation (4.000 ha) and factory in 1968
(Photo 1). Since then the factory has undergone successive phases of expansion.
Photo 1: Sugar cane factory in Merti, near Metahara (2009)
With the construction of a paved road connecting Addis Ababa and Djibouti via the Afar
region in the 1970s, the Middle Awash valley was also opened up for commercial
agriculture. The main product within the newly established large-scale irrigation schemes
around Melka Werer was cotton. As before, pastoralists were neither consulted nor
compensated for the expropriation of their land (Kassa 2001). During the Derg regime
(1973 – 1989) the irrigated area expanded until reaching 68.800 ha in 1989, which made
up 70% of the total irrigated area of Ethiopia.
This expansion process was linked to a severe environmental degradation. The
deforestation during the establishment of the irrigation schemes resulted in the loss of
gallery forests along the Awash that used to be essential for the pastoral land use
system (Gamaledin, 1987). The construction of dams and dykes for the development of
irrigated farms changed the seasonal run-off patterns of the Awash River, so that the
sensitive wetland ecosystem within the flood plains got severely disturbed (Bondestam,
1974; Flood, 1976; Kloos, 1982). Currently soil degradation due to salinification poses a
serious problem affecting also the surrounding pastoral communities, which suffer from
extremely salty water. Furthermore, the health risks for pastoralists have increased
significantly due to herbicides and pesticides that are washed into the Awash River and
worsen the quality of the river and the ground water that is used for consumption (Photo
2).

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Photo 2: Afar women collecting water from a shallow groundwater well
Figure 2: Irrigated large scale farms along the Awash
Source: Müller-Mahn et al. (2010)

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Recently the Ethiopian state has attempted to increase the national sugar production by
four- to five-fold through the expansion of existing farms like the Metahara sugar
plantation and the development of large new plantations in the lower Awash valley. The
previously dominant cotton production within the Awash valley has begun to be replaced
by cane. In the year 2009, two large dams (Tendaho/Kessem-Kabana) were almost
completed (Fig. 2) that will help to establish irrigation schemes of 60,000 hectares in the
Lower Awash Valley around Dubti, Detbahri, Boyale, and Asayita (Photo 3) and 20,000
hectares in the Upper Awash Valley between the Kessem river and Metahara.
Photo 3: Tendaho dam (2009)
These interventions are designed to meet the growing national demand for sugar,
enhance export, and substitute up to 20% of national gasoline imports by the production
of 50-70 mega watt (MW) electric power with fuel ethanol (Ethiopian Sugar Development
Share Company, unpublished document). Furthermore, the project aims to create
alternative sources of income for local communities and employment opportunities for
more than 80,000 people. The underlying normative development discourse centers
again on a transformation of pastoralism towards settled agriculture.

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At first sight, the objectives of the new large scale projects may be impressive. However,
one has to doubt whether the interests of the people living in the area of the new
irrigation schemes were seriously considered in the planning process and whether
pastoral livelihood strategies were ever seen as a viable alternative. The local pastoral
groups were either evicted from their lands, or they were resettled without adequate
compensation. Quite obviously, the pastoral population did not participate in project
planning. According to pastoralists who were interviewed, many people in the area of the
new schemes feel totally excluded from these developments in the name of
development, and they are afraid of the socio-economic impact that a massive influx of
labor migrants from the highlands will have (Müller-Mahn et al. 2010). Huge settlement
programs in the vicinity of the new irrigation schemes are already under way in order to
relocate the new migrants and the displaced Afar communities.
Photo 4: Afar woman picking cotton as daily labourer
Although the current interventions may offer
some benefits for few pastoralists who find
work on the plantations, they are framed by
an official discourse that disregards the
contribution of pastoralists to the national
economy.
As a consequence of the new development
schemes in the pastoral areas, a growing
number of Afar and Karrayu pastoralists are
gradually losing their pastoral production
basis, and are forced to search for
alternatives by supplementing their
livelihoods with subsistence oriented
cultivation of maize and sorghum and/or
low-paid wage labour like the picking of
cotton (Photo 4).
Additionally, under conditions of increasing
land scarcity and the monetarization of land,
violent conflicts among Afar clans have
become more frequent and threaten the
social fundaments of the clan society.
It can be concluded that pastoral vulnerability is increasing as in the process of
agricultural industrialization new risks are produced, that gradually undermine pastoral
coping capacities and resilience (Rettberg 2010). The negative costs of modernization
and national food security have to be paid by the pastoralists.

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The likely impact of sugar cane plantations on pastoral
livelihoods of the proposed Tana River Delta sugarcane project
By Tom Odero Ombogo
The Tana delta derives its name from the Tana River in the Tana River district. The
district occupies a total area of 38,782 square kilometers with an estimated population of
227,851 people. It derives its name from the largest river in Kenya, which traverses the
northern and eastern part of the district and drains into the Indian Ocean.
The main livelihoods systems in the district are pastoralism and farming with a small
proportion of the population engaged in fishing. The Tana River, believed to be Kenya’s
longest river, courses south from Garissa in the dry northeast, subsequently turns to the
East to reach the sea. A gigantic triangle of landmass that extends from the river estuary
at Kipini in the South to Mnazini and Lazima villages in the North constitutes the delta of
the Tana River (see Map 1).
The delta is a mosaic of seasonally flooded grasslands, patches of palm savanna,
fragmented forests, satellite lakes, mangrove trees, beaches and the river itself. The
delta’s ecosystem supports indigenous communities, large numbers of livestock, wildlife
and avifauna. Farmers cultivate on receding lake edges, seasonally fertile floodplains,
and where the river spills fresh water into their fields with the tidal flow. Other people
raise livestock or engage in fishing. The delta, that forms the proposed sugar
development site covers a total of 8 administrative divisions namely; Bura, Madogo,
Bangale, Galore, Wenje, Garsen, Tarasaa and Kipini. The eight divisions fall under the
jurisdiction of Tana River County Council.
Socio-demographic characteristics
According to the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) 2000 -2004, the Tana River
district, where the delta is found, is one of the of the poorer Districts in Kenya. It has an
average distance to nearest source of water by household (km) of 1.22km. The average
household size as reported by the respondents in discussions was Wardei 8.87 persons,
Orma 10.36 persons, and Pokomos 6.52 persons.
The estimated total permanent population at the delta is 65,000 people of which 44% are
Pokomos, 44% Ormas, 8% Wardei while other Ethnic groups account for the remaining
4%. The Wardei are a smaller group originating from Ethiopia who are also pastoralists.
The Pokomo are mainly subsistence farmers who farm along the River Tana. The area
also has other minority groups that include the Wataa, (Sanyes), Malakote and
Munyoyaya. Their way of life is close to that of pastrolists Orma and Wardei. They have
diversified to mixed farming that involves; cultivation along the river, bee keeping, fishing
and trade. The area is home to other Kenyan ethnic groups. These include the Luos,
Kambas, Taitas, Giriamas, and Kikuyus.
The area is characterized by a migratory population consisting of livestock herders, who
migrate to the lower plains during the drought months of January and

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February. The young people have also left the area to look for employment in urban
areas of Mombasa, Malindi and Nairobi and this has reduced the number of youth in the
area. Despite all this the population has grown and only decreases during drought and
floods.
Figure 1: Tana Delta Sugar cane growing proposed site
Education levels
Generally, the majority of the populations living in this area (44% of households
sampled) have no education, while 39% have primary education. 14% have secondary
level training and 4% educated to college standards. The statistics show that access to
education is low and so are the literacy levels in the area.
There are many cases of the elderly people having no formal education just like level of
literacy among women. Among cohorts of school age children, school enrollment and
attendance rates are poor – especially among the pastoralists.
This is due to a myriad of factors, including: long distances to schools,

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high pupil teacher ratio, limited resources to run schools, dilapidated incomplete
buildings, gender disparities, lack of school feeding programme, early and forced
marriages.
Resource and livelihood analysis
The main economic activities in the area are centered round crop production for the
agriculturalists and livestock keeping and herding for the pastoralists. There are also
other cases of agro-pastoralism and the rest a small minority are in employment either
locally or outside the area. The main economic activities of households among the
indigenous population are; herdsmen (patoralists) at 39%, livestock keepers at 8.3%,
traders at 1.7%, farmers at 35.6%, farmers and livestock keepers at 8.9% and the
employed at 6.7%.
Over 98% of the populations in the Tana delta area cite the River Tana as an important
resource for food, livestock, agriculture and all their livelihoods. Other resources
mentioned are land, trees, goats, poultry, and beehives mainly by agriculturalists. The
pastoralists quoted pasture, wild fruits, cows, wildlife, livestock, forest and medicinal
trees and shrubs.
The agriculturalists do not produce enough food for their subsistence and sustenance,
while the pastoralists suffer from a lack of sufficient grazing lands. The rice consumed by
the Wardei and Orma is from Government of Kenya and Relief Agencies. This is an
indication of food insufficiency in the area.
Conclusions
An analysis of the socio-economic characteristics of the indigenous groups at the Tana
delta revealed that:
• Low educational levels of the communities living in the Tana delta is an indication
that the uptake of ideas about the proposed project might prove to be a challenge
to the indigenous people since it has been established that literacy levels dictate
the uptake of any innovation of intervention.
• The community is afraid that more children will drop out of school and get into
child labour and other vices due to introduction of money culture that would be
instituted through plantation farming that would require human labour.
• The Tana delta offers dry season grazing relief to the pastoralist; this would be
difficult to attain since the sugarcane project would be purely agricultural based.
The traditional ancestral pastures/grazing land would be taken over by sugarcane
production. The grazing lands are a source of cultural heritage to the indigenous
people and there is real danger of losing the cultural identity by the community.
• Low food production complemented by high

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poverty levels of the populations in the proposed project area could push people
to stop producing subsistence crops in favour of cash crops. The resultant effect
could be greater dependence on food relief from government and humanitarian
agencies should the price of bought food increase to prohibitive levels in the
future.
• The river delta is also a source of other food products especially the alligators,
the water lilies, the crocodiles and the hippos. The Pokomo living in the delta eat
crocodiles and consume a lot of marine resources. The indigenous population
stands to lose these benefits if the sugarcane project takes off.
• The indigenous communities would lose their rights of access to land and food
resources as the land owner (sugarcane) would have exclusive rights to the land
in the delta including the areas bordering the river banks.
In sum, the sugar project would adversely affect the livelihood systems of the indigenous
communities and thus expose them to losses of property, cultural identity and heritage. It
is also evident that the proponents of the project have engaged in limited fashion with
indigenous communities and what they feel or say.
For more information Appendix 1 “Tana river project and environmental protection”

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The impact of commercial farming on the Guarani tribe in Brazil
By Caroline Altare, Ethical sugar
A report by Survival, an NGO dedicated to the protection of tribal peoples’ rights, has
noted how the situation of the Guarani tribe of southern Brazil is one of the worst of all
indigenous peoples in the Americas. The release of the report coincides with the
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21st March.
The Guarani suffer high rates of suicide, malnutrition, unfair imprisonment and
alcoholism, and are regularly targeted and killed by gunmen hired by the ranchers who
have taken over their land. The denial of the Indians’ land rights is singled out in the
report as the main cause of this explosive situation.
The Survival report warns that the growing demand for ethanol as an alternative to
gasoline will take more land from the Guarani and further worsen the situation. Despite
living in one of the wealthiest states in one of the world’s largest emerging economies,
many Guarani live in dire poverty. Some live under tarpaulins on the side of busy
highways, others in chronically overcrowded ‘reserves’ where they are reliant on
government handouts.

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Source: Violation of the rights of the Guarani of Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brasil,
Survival International, March 2010
One Guarani community living on the roadside, which has seen three of their leaders
killed by ranchers’ gunmen, said, ‘We are growing impatient with the excessive delay of
land demarcation. It is slowly killing us and exposing us to genocide’.
The problems linked to this conflict include:
• Violence: the Guarani suffer from violent attacks and many Guarani leaders
have been assassinated. 42 Guarani were killed in Mato Grosso do Sul in 2008
because of internal and external conflicts.
• Suicide: the suicide rate amongst the Guarani is one of the highest in the world.
More than 625 Guarani have committed suicide since 1981 (almost 1.5% of the
Guarani population), and in 2005, the Guarani suicide rate was 19 times the
national rate. Guarani children as young as nine years old have taken their own
lives.
• Malnutrition and poor health: many Guarani suffer from malnutrition, and their
infant mortality rate is more than double the national average, whilst life
expectancy is more than 20 years lower than the national average.
• Unfair imprisonment: Guarani are often wrongly imprisoned, with little or no
access to legal advice and interpreters. They serve ‘disproportionately harsh
sentences for minor offences’.
• Exploitation of manual labourers: many Guarani are forced to work cutting
sugar cane for the ethanol factories which now occupy their land. They earn
pitiful wages and are exposed to inhumane working conditions.

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Source: Violation of the rights of the Guarani of Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil,
Survival International, March 2010
The Cosan-Shell case
The UN expert on indigenous rights, James Ananya, has presented a report to the UN
Human Rights Council in which he says he is ‘deeply concerned about the allegations of
violence against the Guarani people and the severe impact that the aggressive policy of
governments in the past to sell large tracts of traditional lands to non-indigenous farmers
has had on the Guarani communities.’ Almost all Guarani land has already been taken to
make way for cattle ranches, soya plantations and sugar cane.
In February 2010 the Cosan group entered into an agreement with the oil company Shell
to create one of the biggest ethanol suppliers in the world. Shell is member of the “Better
Sugar Cane Initiative” and the “Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels” which both state
that sugarcane production must respect the law and human rights.
The Public Federal Ministry of Mato Grosso do Sul, in southern Brazil (MS) noted in July
2010 that the factories of Nova América – part of the Shell/Conan’s group – and
Monteverde of Bunge’s group had received loans from the National Bank of Economic
and Social Development (BNDES) and had bought raw material grown illegally in
indigenous territories of the MS.
Sugarcane planting for commercial use in indigenous areas is prohibited by the Brazilian
legislation. Furthermore, the public financing for the expansion of

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sugarcane cultivation in indigenous’ lands is prohibited by the Resolution 3.813/2009 of
the Central Bank. A Brazilian prosecutor with constitutional powers to defend indigenous
rights in court has written to Shell warning that its involvement in the joint venture
‘jeopardizes the company’s commitment to biodiversity and sustainability’.
The Public Federal Ministry (PFM) of MS asked the BNDES about the criteria used for
the concession of the loans, but still has no answer. According to the Prosecutor, the
bank increases conflicts for land and violations of indigenous rights in the state by giving
financing to companies with irregular processes.
The Caarapó’s unit of the Nova América factory is based in the region of Dourados, in
the south of the state. The Cosan group bought all the shares from Nova América –
which includes four factories and a traditional brand of sugar União – in March of 2009.
In response, Cosan has stated that it does not have any agricultural operations in MS
and that the entity Nova América S.A Agrícola is responsible for the Cosan’s supply of
sugarcane in the region.
Source: Guarani children work on the sugar cane fields which now cover much of their
people’s ancestral lands in Mato Grosso do Sul state - Survival
For more information Appendix 2 “Guarani people (Brazil) and land issues regarding
multinationals” and Appendix 3 “Survival complain: Shell in row over Brazilian
Indian land grab 28 September 2010”
.

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Conclusion
By Olivier Genevieve & Caroline Altare
The arrival of the Portuguese in Brazil quickly gave rise to the import of African slaves for
the cultivation of sugar cane as a cash crop export. Sugar cane is certainly one of the
farm products which contributed to shaping our current world between forced
interbreeding and acculturation of the people. For example the Tainos people of Haiti
were "cannibalized" by sugar cane and replaced by the descendants of the slaves to
feed in sugar a Europe starting its industrial revolution. Benjamin Disraeli, a former
British Prime Minister, said in 1857 of sugar: "It is strange that a product which delights
the children and comforts the old people has been subject to so many debates for
humanity ".
Today, more than ever, sugar cane is synonymous of a certain progress and a certain
type of globalization. Sugar cane is a source of foodstuff but can also feed our engines
and produce electricity in rural areas. This energy function is nowadays a subject of
debate in a period when access to land for agricultural production is more and more
problematic.
To manage to feed more than 9 billion human beings is one of the key questions of the
current world. Yet land is means more than just another factor of production. Land is
inhabited by human beings with values and their own cultures, both of which are often
very far from the concerns of stock investors, agronomists and international companies.
This study brings to light the continued problems caused by sugar cane production
today. It seeks to describe the shocks that communities undergo when large-scale,
capital-intensive cane cultivation is introduced. Between modernity and tradition, sugar
companies will have to make compromises not to transform the regions where they are
based into ecological deserts and the communities in which they operate into a debased
people.
Nowadays the parts of the sugar cane industry are setting up impact assessment tools,
which often include elements dealing with indigenous people. We hope that these
specifications will not amount to greenwashing but will take a bold step forward for the
protection of native people in the world.
For more information Appendix 4 “Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels – RSB”

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References
Bondestam, L. (1974) ‘People and Capitalism in the North-Eastern Lowlands of Ethiopia’, Journal
of Modern African Studies 12 (3): 423-39.
Central Statistical Authority (2008) Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census, Addis
Ababa.
Gamaledin, M. (1987) ‘State policy and famine in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia: The lessons for
conservation’, in D. Anderson and R. Grove (eds.), Conservation in Africa, pp. 327-344,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Gebre-Mariam, A. (1994) ‘The alienation of land rights among the Afar in Ethiopia’, Nomadic
Peoples 34 (35):137-146.
Flood, G. (1975) ‘Nomadism and its Future: The Afar’, The Royal Anthropology Institute News
6: 5-9.
Kassa, G. (2001) Among the Pastoral Afar in Ethiopia: Tradition, Continuity and Socio-economic
Change, International Book, Utrecht.
Kloos, H. (1982a) ‘Development, drought, and famine in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia’, African
Studies Review 15 (4): 21-48.
Müller-Mahn, D., Rettberg, S. and G. Getachew (2010): Pathways and dead ends of the
development of nomadic pastoralism in Ethiopia. In: European Journal of Development Research
(accepted).
Rettberg, S. (2010): Contested narratives of pastoral vulnerability and risk in Ethiopia’s Afar
region. In: Pastoralism-Research, Policy and Practice 1(2):249-274.
Rettberg, S. (2009) Das Risiko der Afar: Existenzsicherung äthiopischer Nomaden im Kontext
von Hungerkrisen, Konflikten und Entwicklungsinterventionen, (The Risk of the Afar: Livelihood
Protection of Ethiopian Pastoralists under Conditions of Famine Crises, Conflicts and
Development Interventions), Verlag für Entwicklungspolitik, Saarbrücken.
Said, A. (1997) ‘Resource Use Conflict in the Middle Awash Valley of Ethiopia: The Crisis of Afar
Pastoralism’, in Hogg, R. (ed.), Pastoralists, Ethnicity and the State in Ethiopia, pp. 123-141,
Haan Publishing, London.
Bryden, Matt, Outline of a Proposed Strategy for UNICEF Engagement in Ethiopia’s
Afar Region. UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME -
Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, 1996.
Delsol, Colette, Afars d’Éthiopie, acteurs économiques ou obstacles au développement?
Les Nouvelles d’Addis, n 56, 15 mars – 15 mai 2007, p. 9.
Flintan, Fiona and Imeru Tamrat. Spilling Blood over Water? The Case of Ethiopia, in
Jeremy Lind and Kathryn Sturman (eds). Scarcity and Surfeit. The ecology of
Africa’s conflicts. Pretoria, Institute for Security Studies, 2002.
Flood, Glynn. Nomadism and its future: the Afar, RAINews, 6, January/February 1975,
pp. 5-9, reprinted in: Jonathan Benthall (ed). The best of

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Anthropology today. New York, Routledge, 2002.
Getachew, Kassa Negussie. Among the Pastoral Afar in Ethiopia. Tradition, Continuity
and Socio-Economic Change. Utrecht/Addis Ababa, International
Books/OSSREA, 2001.
Hundie, Bekele. Explaining Changes of Property Rights among Afar Pastoralists,
Ethiopia. ICAR Discussion Paper 14/2006, July 2006.
Jacobs, Michael J. and Catherine A. Schloeder. Impacts of Conflict on Biodiversity and
Protected Areas in Ethiopia. Washington, D.C.: Biodiversity Support Program,
2001.
Kloos, Helmut. Development, drought, and famine in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia.
African Studies Review, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Dec., 1982), pp. 21-48.
Morin, Didier. Dictionnaire historique afar (1288-1982). Paris, Karthala, 2003.
Piguet, François. Complex Development-Induced Migration in the Afar Pastoral Area
(North-East Ethiopia). Paper, The Forced Migration & Refugee Studies Program,
Cairo, The American University, October 23-25, 2007.
The facts of the Conan-Shell case, October 2010, on the NGO Ethical Sugar website:
http://www.sucre-ethique.org/Cosan-Shell-Usinas-de-cana-na-mira.html
Cosan contesta MPF e diz não operar na agricultura de MS, June 2010, João Humberto, on the
Campo Grande News website :
http://www.campogrande.news.com.br/canais/view/?canal=8&id=292123
May 2010, Advisory body of Social communication, Public Federal Ministry of Mato Grosso do
Sul website: http://www.prms.mpf.gov.br/acessibilidade/info/resNoticias.php?ind=206731

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Appendix 1
Tana river project and environmental protection
Recommendations for the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) - ,
Kenya 2008
A. That the Tana Integrated Sugar Project as currently proposed be rejected for the
reasons listed above.
B. That NEMA takes the lead, in collaboration with other government agencies, in
listing the Tana River Delta under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of
International Importance, for which it unquestionably qualifies. At least 130,000
ha of the most critical parts of the Tana River floodplain and Tana River Delta
should be designated as national protected areas. This will set the stage for any
permitted developments in the remaining area of the Delta, which will need to be
designed to ensure the integrity of the Protected Areas.
C. That NEMA should demand, and take the lead in facilitating, a Conservation and
Development Master Plan for the Tana Delta. This Plan to be drawn up in
consultation with other Government agencies and stakeholders. The Plan to
include an economic assessment of the local, national and global environmental
values of the Tana Delta.
D. That TARDA and Mumias Sugar Company take the brilliant opportunity to create
a truly “Green” development by supporting the gazettement and management of
large parts of the Delta as conservation areas, and tailoring development
activities to small schemes that will directly benefit the local people, and maintain
the hydrological and ecological integrity of one of Kenya’s most important natural
assets.
We hope the above submissions will find fair consideration and action to ensure that the
Tana River Delta ecosystem, the ecological goods and services it provides, the local
social setup, and the interactions among them, are maintained for the sustainability of
human life and biodiversity survival. I will be very pleased to elaborate on and discuss
our submission with yourself, your colleagues or other stakeholders as soon as you are
in a position to do so.
Paul Matiku
Executive Director, Nature Kenya

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Appendix 2
Guarani people (Brazil) and land issues regarding multinationals
According to the Biofuels Watch Center - Reporter Basil NGO – Brazil of Biofuels – 2009
www.reporterbrasil.org.br/biofuel
Clean energy Brazil (Great Britain)
33% of Unialco, owners of Alcoolverde, Dourados Açúcar, e Álcool, and Canavale
processing plants in Aparecida do Taboado, Dourados, and Ponta Porã: Dourados
Açúcar e Álcool, as said before, is involved
in sugar production in the Guyrarocá indigenous area in Dourados.
GARCANE
Louis Dreyfus Commodities, LDC (Françe)
Esmeralda, Brilhante II, Passa Tempo and Maracaju processing plants in Sidrolândia,
Rio Brilhante, and Maracaju: besides impacts on settler’s plantations in Rio Brilhante, as
said before, LDC is accused by the local industrial workers’ union of having immediately
fired 70% of Passa Tempo and Maracaju after its purchase. Nowadays, according to the
labour union, the company uses almost only outsourced labour, and most workers are
brought from north-eastern Brazil by another company.
Infinity (USA)
Naviraí and Usinav II processing plants, in Naviraí and Iguatemi: they keep Indian
workers in dormitories and there are several reports of tuberculosis.
Brenco (USA)
Brenco processing plant in the town of Costa Rica: in February 2008, the federal
government’s mobile inspection group caught 133 workers lodged in degrading
conditions at Brenco’s enterprises in the towns of Campo Alegre de Goiás e Mineiros,
state of Goiás, 17 of which were considered slave labourers.
Bunge (USA)
Monte Verde processing plants in Ponta Porã: it leases a farm that overllaps with the
Jatayvary area.

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Appendix 3
Survival complain: Shell in row over Brazilian Indian land grab
28 September 2010
According to the survival international website – www.survivalinternational.org
Brazilian authorities have written to energy giant Shell expressing concern over the activities of its
new Brazilian joint-venture partner, which is producing biofuels from land taken from an impoverished
Indian tribe.
Last month, Shell signed a $12 billion deal to produce biofuels from sugar cane with Brazilian
biofuels giant Cosan. But some of Cosan’s sugar cane is grown on land officially recognized as belonging
to Guarani Indians.
A Brazilian prosecutor with constitutional powers to defend indigenous rights in court, has written
to Shell warning that its involvement in the joint venture ‘jeopardizes the company’s commitment to
biodiversity and sustainability’.
The film ‘Birdwatchers’ brought the Guarani’s plight worldwide attention in 2008, and one of the
film’s stars, Ambrosio Vilhalva, is from the community affected by Cosan’s activities.
Speaking of the sugar cane plantations that have swallowed much of his tribe’s lands, Mr Vilhalva
said today, ‘The sugar cane plantations are finishing off the Indians. Our lands are getting smaller and
smaller. The plantations are killing the Indians.’
Earlier this month, the UN’s top expert on indigenous rights published a report to the UN Human
Rights Council in which he says he is ‘deeply concerned about the allegations of violence against the
Guarani people and the severe impact that the aggressive policy of governments in the past to sell large
tracts of traditional lands to non-indigenous farmers has had on the Guarani communities.’
Almost all Guarani land has already been stolen from them to make way for cattle ranches, soya
plantations and sugar cane. The Guarani suffer violent attacks whenever they attempt to return to their
ancestral territories. Their leaders are frequently targeted by gunmen and dozens have been assassinated.
The tribe has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, and babies are dying from malnutrition because
the tribe has no land to cultivate or hunt on.
Survival’s Director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘Shell is threatening to aggravate what is already one of the
most critical situations of all Indian peoples in Brazil. Now the company knows what its Brazilian partner is
up to, we hope they won’t want to be implicated in the appalling theft of the Guarani’s land.’
Survival has written to Shell about Cosan’s activities, which clearly breach Shell’s ‘Statement of General
Business Principles’.

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Appendix 4
Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels – RSB
According to the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels website www.rsb.org (10.20.2010)
The mission of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) is to ensure that biofuels
deliver on their promises of climate change mitigation, economic development and
energy security without causing environmental or social damage, such as deforestation
and food insecurity. The Standard developed by the RSB consists of a set of normative
documents and guidelines. It covers the entire biofuel value chain from “farm to tank”
and addresses the negative impacts potentially caused by biofuel production.
RSB Principles & Criteria:
1. Legality 7. Conservation
2. Planning, Monitoring & continuous
improvement
8. Soil
3. Greenhouse Gases Emissions 9. Water
4. Human & labour Rights 10. Air
5. Rural & Social Developpment 11. Use of technologies, Input &
Management of Wastes
6. Food Security 12 Land Rights
The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels is coordinated at the Ecole Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and is led by a multi-stakeholder Steering
Board.
According to RSB Version 1 – Social Specialist Guidelines
Box 3: RSB Principles and Criteria relevant to the Social SpecialistStudy
Principle 5: In regions of poverty, biofuel production shall contribute to the social and
economic development of local, rural and indigenous people and communities.
Criteria 5b) In regions of poverty, special measures that benefit and encourage the
participation of women, youth and indigenous communities and the vulnerable in
biofuel operations shall be designed and implemented.
Principle 9: Biofuel operations shall maintain or enhance the quality and quantity of
surface and ground water resources, and respect prior formal or customary water rights.
Criteria 9a) Biofuel operations shall respect the existing water rights of local and
indigenous communities.
Local experts shall be used to undertake the specialist social impact survey of the RSB
ESIA together with the accredited professionals, to ensure that local customs,languages,
practices and Indigenous knowledge are respected and utilized in the ESIA process.

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Appendix 5
Nowhere to go – by Francesco Sincich
A new sugar factory endangers the Afar life in the Awash Valley,
Ethiopia3
.
A new sugar factory will be soon fully operational at Tendaho, in the Afar Region of
Ethiopia. The federal government spends much energy to emphasize its benefits for the
life of Afar pastoralists, when Afar organizations and many independent reports show and
underline a different reality. The voice of the international investors and that of the
Ethiopian executors are louder and well widespread, while that of the Afar, the
inhabitants and owners of the land covered by the project, have less possibility to be
heard. We will try to correct this inequality and to explain in which way this and other
important projects of industrial agriculture are affecting the Afar capability to exploit
their resources and to develop their own economy.
Afar culture and livelihood.
Gone down in history and legend for their
cruelty and their beauty, two colonial
stereotypes which have always followed them
since the Italian and French occupations, the
Afar are still considered as troublesome, and
not more than remnants of a past that is little
suitable to the progress and the development
of the country. As a matter of fact, their life has never been
acknowledged and respected and, as Didier Morin
underlined, referring to their resistance to the occupation
passed off as barbarian, criminal acts, “when the Afar are
recognized as actors of the History, it is to contest their
right to defend themselves”4
.
3
The girl in the pictures is always the same; her name is Dahra and she
is living around Mille. She shows the Afar way to take the pictures
seriously…until the last…
4
Didier Morin. Dictionnaire historique afar (1288-1982). op. cit., p. 1.

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Afar nomadic pastoralists live in an area called “Afar Triangle” today shared by three
countries: Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. Their number varies according to the interests,
but credible estimates indicate a total of about 2.000.000 people, 1.400.000 of which are
in Ethiopia, where they have a Regional National State according to the Ethiopian
constitution based on “ethnicity”.
The Afar territory is part of the Ethiopian lowlands
and the climate is dry for a long part of the year,
with only one important rainy season in July-
August. Therefore, for most of the year Afar region
has a desert climate, which is mitigated, in its
southern part, by the presence of the Awash river,
the most important permanent river in the region.
At the beginning of the Italian and French
colonialism in the area, the Afar people distribution
was as in the map at right. Since then the pressure
made by Somali Issa, other pastoralist people,
pushed Afar towards North-West, severely reducing
the available grazing land.
The Afar society is made up by different clans (kedo
in afar language), each one living in its own
territory. Unlike other nomadic pastoralists
societies, their clanic structure coexists with a
political organization composed by a number of
leading institutions usually called Sultanates. The
most important is the Aussa Sultanate, based at
Asayita, which acts as a mediator between the
different kedo and the Ethiopian federal
government, but its real authority doesn’t extend
outside its ancient territory, the lower part of the
Awash Valley, while the middle and upper parts,
between Awash and Mille, are shared among three
“federations” (dinto) of kedo.
Afar are Muslim at least since the ninth century, but
the Islamic Law (Shariyya) didn’t replace the
Customary Law (Maad’a), which is still the major
reference in various contexts. The Maad’a reminds other traditional laws typical of the
societies of nomadic pastoralists (Bedouins, Somalis) and it is based on principles like
solidarity and mutual help, which are obligations towards any other clan member. A
typical Afar social institution is the fi’maa, a sort of sanctions-executing institution
composed by young men from all the lineages of a kedo, in order to be able to have the
necessary authority. It is like a militia whose role is implementing the decisions of the
elders and guaranteeing protection to the community.
The distribution of the Afar clans and Sultanates at the
beginning of the colonization and the present limit of
the Afar territory. The clans which lived in the land now
occupied by the Somali Issa had to relocate into areas
inhabited by other Afar clans with consequent internal
conflicts and reduction of the available land.
Asahimarra and Adohimarra are political, historically
determined alliances of Afar clans.
After Didier Morin. Dictionnaire historique afar (1288-1982),
op. cit. MODIFIED.

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At a lower level, the basic unit of the Afar social organization is represented by the
nuclear family (burra), constituted by a male household head, his wife and sometimes co-
wives, and their children. More nuclear families, up to four generations, constitute an
extended family (dahla), and they usually move together with the livestock. In rainy
season, when they move around to far grazing areas, they organize satellite herd camps
called magida, which they move frequently, but in dry season, when they stay in the main
settlements (homa) near the banks of the Awash, they follow a semi-sedentary life and
they cultivate small plots of land for food-crops and the men look for employments in the
nearby towns.
In the daily herding activities young girls, small
boys and sometimes the mothers look after the
small livestock (mainly goats) and calves, while
the young men and the elder boys look after the
“dry” cattle and tend the camels, which are the
most important animals in Afar culture, used for
all the traditional ceremonies and purposes. In
rainy season, when the Afar of the upper-middle
Awash Valley send the cattle to the wet
pastures, only young, armed men can move
with it, due to the risk of clashes with other
pastoralists groups like Somali Issa, and more
rarely with Oromo Kereyu and Ittu, and
Argobba.
The relation between Afar and Somali Issa is characterized by an ancient ongoing conflict
generated by the pressure of Issa towards the Afar territory in search of pasture and
water. In the last century the Issa occupied large extents of Afar traditional territory, and
since the creation of the Afar regional National State, they entered into it for about 50
km, occupying most of the small towns and villages along the Awash-Mille highway
except the important town of Gewane.
The ongoing conflict with the Issa has dramatically restricted the available grazing land
used in the rainy season but this is only one of the factors endangering the life of Afar in
Awash Valley. In 1962, the beginning of the big projects of irrigated industrial
agriculture along the Awash River under the direction of the newly instituted Awash
Valley Authority (AVA), stole important areas traditionally used by Afar herders in the
dry seasons. This new situation worsened the relations with the Oromo (Kereyu and Ittu)
and Argobba neighbors, with whom normally Afar even intermarried, due to the
unavoidable trespassing into their territory.
The Awash Valley
In the Afar part of the Awash Valley, from Awash to the Lake Abbe, the rainfall is highly
seasonal, confined to the two rainy periods: one “light” (sugum, in February-April) with
little rain, and the other more important (karma in July-August), with heavy rains, with
A daboyta, the mobile house of the Afar pastoralists. Galaha,
2004.
January February March April May June July August September October November December
DADUM SUGUM HAGAI KARMA JILAL
showers short rains hot and dry long rains cool (dry)
very good for milk yield
floods
browsing available for goats and camelsgood to fat cows
AFAR SEASONAL CALENDAR

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consequent marked fluctuations in the river discharge and periodical floodings5
. The
floods, now “regulated” (altered) by the dams and the protections surrounding the
industrial farms, are of capital importance for the herders. At the beginning of the rains
the households move for distances of five to thirty kilometers to wet-season areas to
escape the river floods and profit of the new grasses for most of their livestock, while
young men go to more distant grazing areas with the camels and the “dry” cattle. When
the flood waters subside (October-November) the Afar return to the floodplains, grazing
their livestock on the receding swamps. The land close to the river receives an important
amount of water and it dries slowly, allowing grazing even in the hottest and driest part of
the year (hagai, the “big” dry season, in July-August)6
, while the areas around it are
immediately available. Both areas are of crucial importance for the herders, but the
flooded plains close to the river, which guarantee the availability of grazing in the dry
seasons, and especially in the harshest one, the hagai, make the difference between the
death and the life, and it is just this part which is usually taken for the projects of
industrialized agriculture.
Many independent reports 7
mention the federal
government policy of confiscating grazing land in the
Awash Valley as a major factor of crisis of the
pastoralists livelihood, and most of them underline the
total neglect of the opinion and the interests of the
pastoralists, and in particular the Afar. Glynn Flood, a
young English anthropologist who lost his life in Afar
during a mission, showed how the governmental policy of
exploiting the water of the Awash river for industrial
cash-providing agriculture contributed in a substantial
way to the famine of 1973 in that area, because it left the
Afar people without any traditional coping strategy to
survive in times of severe drought8
. Glynn Flood was
certainly committed with the life of Afar people, but it
was not the passion for a genuine, “primitive” people
which pushed him in his work.
The policies of most of the African governments push to
sedentarize the nomadic pastoralists, according to an old
theory which considered the nomadic pastoralism as an
ancient mode of production, anterior to the agriculture in
5
In reality, the Afar distinguish five seasons, as shown in the calendar above.
6
The “small” one, between September and January, is called jilal.
7
See some of them in the references.
8
Glynn Flood. Nomadism and its future: the Afar, RAINews, 6, January/February 1975, pp. 5-9. For details
about his death see The Guardian and The Times of October 8
th
1975.
This map shows the Awash basin before the
realization of the most important projects of
industrial agriculture wanted by the federal
government. Today, after the construction of the
Tendaho dam, the flooding area up to the dam is
that colored in yellow. At the end of July 2010,
after a heavy rain, the water of Awash river
killed three persons around Mille and displaced
other 2,000 households. All the testimonies
confirmed that the flooding had become more
important and unpredictable due to the dam and
confronted people to an unknown, new situation
which they cannot manage, because the usual
ways of drainage are no more working.
The map has been modified from Helmut Kloos.
Development, drought, and famine in the Awash Valley
of Ethiopia. op. cit., p. 24.

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the development of the human “civilization”. In reality, most of the recent studies showed
that it is the most profitable way to exploit a semi-desert environment from an economic
point of view.
Destroying this capability is just the opposite of the declared aim to guarantee the self-
sufficiency in food for Ethiopia and to prevent malnutrition and famine. The benefits of
the production of cotton at the beginning, and sugar and ethanol in the present projects,
don’t reach Afar people, which are obliged to leave their territory or to sedentarize
around the new towns created by the “development” projects without any hope of
development, after having lost their livestock.
Afar cannot find any attraction for projects which are growing without their approval or
even their opinion. They don’t have the capitals to make the investment in the industrial
agriculture productive, and they pay also the suspicion and the hostility of the ruling
Highlanders9
towards them. Many evidences and also a personal experience during a
MSF (Médécins Sans Frontières) mission, showed that they are discriminated in many
contexts, even in the healthcare. Despite the official claims, and the aim to sedentarize the
nomadic pastoralists, there is even little effort to really employ them as workers in the
sugar plantations or factory: they have not the habits to farm, they have no experience of
working in a factory, whereas there is plenty of jobless Highlanders waiting to be
employed, even in a place that they don’t like, like the Afar Region. Highlanders are not
comfortable in Afar, for climate, completely different from the nice green mountains and
hills of their land, and for people, that they consider as “primitive”, “wild” and
dangerous. The fracture between Highlanders and Afar is ancient, and the cohabitation is
never quiet.
Nevertheless, thousands of Highlanders are coming to the Afar Region to work in the
government’s projects. At Tendaho, a new town is growing
and it is not Afar, even if it is in Afar region. The high
concentration of single male workers, as it already happened in
the upper Awash Valley, will attract dozens of girls from
Addis Ababa and other Highland towns in search for survival
by selling sex, and the new life style imported from outside
will endanger the Afar traditional way of life, with changes
which it could be hard to define as “progress” and
“development”. At Dubti, recent studies already showed a
dramatic increase of HIV+ cases in a society, like that Afar,
which was relatively spared from this problem until now.
Afar feel this immigration as a foreign occupation and the
relation between them and the Highlanders as an internal
colonization. They are not comfortable with it and the majority
of them tries to resist it.
9
The Amhara and Tigray people. Fundamentally agriculturalists and in majority Christians, they represent
historically the ruling class of the country.

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As it happened in the upper valley, the Afar pastoralists who still have some livestock
will be obliged to move northwards, and inevitably they will
enter into territories owned by other Afar clans. The risk of
internal fighting is high in a context in which the resources,
water and pasture, are scarce, and the good years, with good and well distributed rain, are
more and more rare.
Amina. Galaha, 2004.

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Ethical-Sugar
www.sucre-ethique.org
www.acucar-etico.org
www.ethical-sugar.org
Sucre Ethique International
6, Allée de la Malletière 69600
Oullins, Lyon, France
Ethical Sugar Switzerland
Rue des Terreaux 8
1003, Lausanne, Switzerland
Ethical Sugar UK
Ben Richardson, Department of Politics
University of Warwick, Coventry
CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
For a sugar which respects human beings and its environment .

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Sugar cane and indigenous people