Farmers' federation calls for regional policy on co-operatives

By JOHN OYUKE

Farmers in the East Africa have asked for implementation of a co-operatives policy in the region to ensure societies serve the poor and the weak.

Senior officials of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), who presented the proposal to the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in Arusha also expressed concern about current land acquisitions by foreign investors in the region, saying it compromises food security.

President of EAFF Philip Kiriro said it was important for the EAC member States to enact a legislation that promotes the development of the cooperative societies.

"The Federation believes co-operative societies have the potential to spur economic development by increasing farmer incomes, promoting food security and triggering community development," he said.

While East Africa has huge tracts of arable land, the region suffers perennial food shortage due to poor planning

He said the body had developed a draft model cooperative policy document that highlights critical factors for considerations to promote cooperative societies in the region.

"We expect these issues to feature at EAC’s Heads of State and Government meeting next month," Kiriro said.

food strategy

The regional Heads of State and Government meet in Arusha Tanzania on December 5 to discuss food security and climate change.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete will chair the meeting.

"If there is no food, it means people will not be able to produce and improve the economy of the nations," said the organisers.

The summit is expected to conclude the development of an EAC food strategy needed for the community to have good guidelines.

Kiriro said the EAFF officials who visited Arusha last week expressed concern about land acquisitions in the region by foreign investors during discussions with EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge Productive and Social Sectors, Jean Claude Nsengiyumva.

According to the officials, in the midst of a severe food and economic crisis, the purchase or lease of vast tracts of land by wealthier, food-insecure nations and private investors from mostly poor countries to produce crops for export was steadily growing in Africa.

"The major concern about these transactions is their impact on the farming systems and environment," Kiriro said.

The subject of transnational land acquisitions, infamously referred to as land grabbing, has increasingly become an important policy concern in Africa as acquisitions have grown in scale and number.

Speaking at a meeting in Nairobi recently, coordinator of the Kenya Land Alliance, Odenda Lumumba, criticised regional governments for failing to protect agricultural workers from exploitation.

food insecurity

The regional meeting dubbed Regional Dialogue on Politics of Food Security in Eastern Africa, heard that land deals are often done in secret without informing the current land users, in a manner that causes abrupt dispossession and food insecurity.

"Isn’t it the height of recklessness in leadership for governments to give out land to foreigners when countries in the region are food -insecure and are literally being fed?" posed Lumumba.

He referred to the case where Kenya is considering a proposal to lease 40,000 hectares of land in the Tana River Delta to the Government of Qatar to create large-scale plantations on the land to grow and send crops back home.

In March this year, EAFF held a policy workshop to review Co-operative Acts in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, and compared those laws with the Ethiopian cooperative law, which is deemed to be favourable to the development of co-operative societies in Africa.

progress review

The call for a regional cooperative policy comes on the heels of a workshop early this year by EAFF — which brings together all farmers in the region.

The meeting in March reviewed Cooperative Acts in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

During the meeting, Nsengiyumva commended the work of the farmers’ federation and said the overall objectives of cooperation in the agricultural sector were the achievement of food security and rational agricultural production within the Community.

He said EAC member States are ready to provide an enabling environment for the private sector and the civil society to take full advantage of the Community.

Kiriro applauded the EAC Secretariat on the role it played in enabling the five partner States to reach the commendable milestone of a Common Market that became operational on July 1, 2010.

He also commended the Community for granting the Federation the Observer Status in March this year and disclosed that the Federation will take full advantage of the EAC Common Market Protocol.

The Federation also requested the involvement of national farmers’ organisations in the EAC consultation processes at the country level on agriculture, food security and other related sectors.

This, officials added, is because EAFF member organisations — national federations, apex cooperative alliances, and apex commodity associations — were recognised as legitimate organisations that represent the interests of farmers in the five partner States.

Nsengiyumva assured EAFF officials that their requests would be dealt with by the appropriate authorities within the Community.