The politics of agrofuels and mega-land and water deals: insights from the ProCana case, Mozambique

Abstract

This paper examines the politics of large-scale commercial biofuels production and mega-land–water deals, with special reference to the dynamics of changes in land/water use and property rights and how these impact on the lives and livelihoods of the socio-economically marginalised rural sectors in the countryside. The main argument is that the assumption about existing, available marginal lands is fundamentally flawed. It is demonstrated by examining the ProCana sugar cane ethanol plantation in Gaza province in Mozambique.

Keywords:

• land grabbing
• land use
• agrofuels/biofuels
• Mozambique
• ProCana
• corporate accountability

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Transnational Institute and FoodFirst Information and Action Network for the funds that facilitated our series of field work in Mozambique. We also thank UNAC (National Farmers' Union of Mozambique) for facilitating our fieldwork in Maputo and in the Gaza province. We also thank the anonymous reviewers, as well as Gary Littlejohn and Janet Bujra, for very helpful comments and suggestions.

Notes

Interview at Massingir, Gaza province, 26 August 2009.

Interview with Engr. Mauricio Huo, Massingir District Agriculture Head, Massingir, 25 August 2009.

Interview with ProCana General Manager, Massingir, 26 August 2009.

Interview, 25 August 2009.

Interview, Massingir, 25 August 2009. The contradiction in this is that the government is raising the issue of deforestation caused by charcoal-making, but would allow the complete clearing of 30,000 ha of forested lands for a sugarcane monocrop plantation.

Interview with ProCana General Manager, Massingir, 26 August 2009.

Interview, Mavoza, 25 August 2009.

Interview, Maputo, 24 August 2009.

See http://www.ask.com/wiki/Eurasian_Natural_Resources_Corporation?qsrc=3044 [Accessed 20 January 2011].

The person requested not to be identified, along with the name of his village. Interview, Massingir District, inside the ProCana land allocation, 26 August 2009.

For a broader critique of the current Mozambican policy on renewable energy, see Hankins (2009).

Interview, Diamantino Nhampossa, Maputo, 24 August 2009.