Seeds of discontent
Watch this trailer for a powerful new documentary about how supposedly well-meaning Dutch and Swedish investments can result in land grabbing and human rights abuses in one small community in Mozambique.
In the northern province of Niassa, Mozambique, one company, Chikweti, set up with investments by Swedish and Norwegian churches and the Dutch pension fund, ABP is establishing large tree plantations. Chikweti not only promised their investors a large financial return, but also claimed it would deliver jobs, environmental protection and community development to the region. It seemed a win-win for everyone.
This documentary follows the story of one of the plantation workers, Amado. He wants to improve the conditions of his fellow workers in the Chikweti plantation of Licole, Mozambique. He’s frightened and often intimidated in pursuit o f this goal, while facing an apathetic union, a hardnosed manager, and a group of elders determined to halt his actions.
But will Amado achieve the support he needs from his fellow workers and local peasant farmers while facing up to the company management?
We discover the answer when he and a new local union confront Chikweti by rallying the local peasant farmers and plantation workers to stand together.
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Recent publications from Agrarian Justice
Bittersweet HarvestA European Union (EU) trade initiative intended to reduce poverty in the world’s poorest countries has driven thousands of Cambodian farming families into destitution and led to serious human rights violations. This report assesses the human rights impacts of the EU’s ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA) trade scheme in Cambodia. |
The Sugarcane Industry and the global economic crisisAn examination of ethanol production in Brazil, highlighting the role of financial capital, the territorial expansion of agribusiness and the impacts on labour relations and indigenous peoples and peasant farmers. |
A foreseeable disasterWhy despite ten years of accumulating evidence on the social and environmental cost of agrofuels, does the European Commission persist with its failed policies? An analysis of the EU's bioeconomy vision, how it is fuelling land grabs in Africa, the agrofuels lobby that drives policy, and the alternative visions for energy that are being ignored. |
UPDATE: Land concentration, land grabbing and people’s struggles in EuropeLand issues and 'land grabs' are mostly associated with the global South, however 13 country studies in this updated landmark report reveal an accelerating grab and concentration of land across Europe. |
