Broken promises ‘We liked the idea at first,’ says Elena Dino Caspar, says an ASFA spokeperson at a gathering of members, all in matching yellow T-shirts, in Mopeia. ‘They said they would clear the land, and bring water. We were so happy. Our rice really needed irrigation; here was a chance to make it better. But soon, things started to go wrong. ‘They came in all nice, got what they wanted; then the co-ordination stopped,’ fumes Chabuca, the president. The company tilled and cleared land for its own crops, but refused to cede an area to the community, as agreed in the contract. Pushed by local government, OLAM finally offered a plot some three kilometres out of town. ASFA refused it, and occupied prime land near the prized irrigation pump, with the support of government. But the conflict meant the rice was planted too late and an entire crop failed.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:38:43 +0000
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