UWCScholar :: Browsing by Author "Sulle, Emmanuel"

Browsing by Author "Sulle, Emmanuel"

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Agricultural investment corridors in Africa: Making the voices of women and smallholder farmers count
(UWC PLAAS, 2023) Sulle, Emmanuel; Smalley, Rebecca
Development corridors can improve livelihood opportunities for people living in far-flung areas – but only if they focus on smallholder farming, pastoralism, fishing, and infrastructure for small-scale trade. Land rights abuses have occurred as the corridor and growth pole projects have unfolded. Some poorly-designed programmes invited large agribusiness investments that displaced and marginalised local people. Smallholder-farmer and women’s organisations are rarely invited to contribute to the planning and design of the corridor and growth pole projects, and are only minimally involved in their governance.
The biofuels boom and bust in Africa: A timely lesson for the New Alliance initiative
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015) Sulle, Emmanuel
Policies promoting biofuels development through financial incentives in Europe and in the United States of America are major drivers of the ‘land rush’ in many African countries. Yet, we know that most of the first projects have not achieved their intended objectives on the ground. Amidst these controversial and failed investments, which continue to hold large tracts of land in Africa, the G8 initiative called the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition is trying to attract substantial new private investment in agriculture in ten African countries. The New Alliance focuses on public-private investments, with host governments offering large tracts of land to investors. These land-based investments follow similar patterns to unrealised ambitions of biofuels investments. Given the evidence of negative impacts of biofuels investments on rural communities’ access to and control of land, water and forests, the New Alliance implementing partners need to consider lessons from the biofuels rush, and take different pathways to avoid such impacts.
The biofuels boom and bust in Africa: a timely lesson for the New Alliance initiative
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015) Sulle, Emmanuel
Policies promoting biofuels development through financial incentives in Europe and in the United States of America are major drivers of the ‘land rush’ in many African countries. Yet, we know that most of the first projects have not achieved their intended objectives on the ground. Amidst these controversial and failed investments, which continue to hold large tracts of land in Africa, the G8 initiative called the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition is trying to attract substantial new private investment in agriculture in ten African countries. The New Alliance focuses on public-private investments, with host governments offering large tracts of land to investors. These land-based investments follow similar patterns to unrealised ambitions of biofuels investments. Given the evidence of negative impacts of biofuels investments on rural communities’ access to and control of land, water and forests, the New Alliance implementing partners need to consider lessons from the biofuels rush, and take different pathways to avoid such impacts.
Biofuels investments in Tanzania: Policy options for sustainable business models
(2013-03-14) Sulle, Emmanuel
 Biofuels: globally advocated as an environmentally friendly alternative source for energy  US and Brazil: global producers of biodiesel and ethanol  Southern African Nations: the “Middle East” of biofuels -Chief Executive of the UK biofuels suppliers  Initial projects started without guidelines, policy, legal and regulatory framework  Acquisitions of large tracts: threat to food security & tenure of land  Foreign vs home developed policies
Bureaucrats, investors and smallholders: contesting land rights and agro-commercialisation in the Southern agricultural growth corridor of Tanzania
(Taylor & Francis, 2020) Sulle, Emmanuel
Since the triple crises of food, fuel and finance of 2007/8, investments in agricultural growth corridors have taken centrestage in government, donor and private sector initiatives. This article examines the politics of the multi-billion dollar development of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT). The corridor’s proponents aim to create an environment in which agribusiness will operate alongside smallholders to improve food security and environmental sustainability, while reducing rural poverty
Community land formalization and company land acquisition procedures: A review of 33 procedures in 15 countries
(Elsevier, 2020) Sulle, Emmanuel; Notess, Laura; Veit, Peter
Indigenous and community lands, crucial for rural livelihoods, are typically held under informal customary tenure arrangements. This can leave the land vulnerable to outside commercial interests, so communities may seek to formalize their land rights in a government registry and obtain an official land document. But this process can be time-consuming and complex, and in contrast, companies can acquire land relatively quickly and find shortcuts around regulatory burdens. This article reviews and maps 19 community land formalization and 14 company land acquisition procedures is 15 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Comparing community and company procedures identifies multiple sources of inequity.
‘Demonstration fields’, anticipation, and contestation: agrarian change and the political economy of development corridors in Eastern Africa
(Taylor & Francis, 2020) Chome, Ngala; Gonçalves, Euclides; Scoones, Ian; Sulle, Emmanuel
In much of Eastern Africa, the last decade has seen a renewed interest in spatial development plans that link mineral exploitation, transport infrastructure and agricultural commercialisation. While these development corridors have yielded complex results – even in cases where significant investments are yet to happen – much of the existing analysis continues to focus on economic and implementation questions, where failures are attributed to inappropriate incentives or lack of ‘political will’
Gender, politics and sugarcane commercialisation in Tanzania
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2019) Sulle, Emmanuel; Dancer, Helen
This article explores relationships between state, corporate capital and local stakeholders in the political economy of sugarcane from a gender perspective. The findings, based on empirical research at the site of Tanzania’s largest sugarcane producer pre- and post-privatisation, provide insights into the degree to which the estate-outgrower model can be regarded as ‘inclusive’ for women and men. Three aspects of commercial sugarcane production are analysed: land tenure, labour and leadership within canegrowers’ associations. We argue that politico-economic changes in the sector post-privatisation have increased gender differentiation in sugarcane production and consolidated power in the hands of local elites.
Inclusive business models in agriculture? Learning from smallholder cane growers in Mozambique
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2014) Sulle, Emmanuel; Hall, Ruth; Paradza, Gaynor
Amidst the increasing corporate investment in African farmland the term ‘inclusive business model’ has become a catchphrase touted as an opportunity for incorporating smallholder farmers alongside large-scale commercial farming projects. Inclusive business models require an enabling institutional and regulatory framework. Such frameworks now exist at the international level: the African Union Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa and FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance on the Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forest in the Context of National Food Security provide a starting point. If translated and implemented, these guidelines can help develop transparent and accountable mechanisms that enable and strengthen the participation of smallholder farmers in the process of commercialisation, such as in the sugar industry in Mozambique.
Inclusive business models in agriculture? Learning from smallholder cane growers in Mozambique
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2014) Sulle, Emmanuel; Hall, Ruth; Paradza, Gaynor
Amidst the increasing corporate investment in African farmland the term ‘inclusive business model’ has become a catchphrase touted as an opportunity for incorporating smallholder farmers alongside large-scale commercial farming projects. Inclusive business models require an enabling institutional and regulatory framework. Such frameworks now exist at the international level: the African Union Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa and FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance on the Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forest in the Context of National Food Security provide a starting point. If translated and implemented, these guidelines can help develop transparent and accountable mechanisms that enable and strengthen the participation of smallholder farmers in the process of commercialisation, such as in the sugar industry in Mozambique. To enable equitable partnerships between corporate investors and small-scale farmers, governments need to prioritise public investment in agriculture, including research and development, that helps smallholder farmers increase and diversify their agricultural produce. Smallholders’ access to, ownership of and control over land and other resources should be secured. Based on our analysis of current large-scale sugar estates and milling companies, as well as smallholder involvement as outgrowers in the Mozambican sugar industry, this policy brief interrogates policy and suggests mechanisms for enabling and strengthening smallholder farmers’ participation in and securing returns from large scale investments.
International and regional guidelines on land governance and land-based investments: An agenda for African states
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2014) Sulle, Emmanuel; Hall, Ruth
International and regional guidelines on land governance and land-based investments: An agenda for African states
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2014) Sulle, Emmanuel; Hall, Ruth
Global and regional guidelines have been developed in the period 2009–2014 to improve land governance in the context of large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries. These provide an opportunity for affected countries to make necessary reforms to mitigate negative impacts of such acquisitions. They also challenge governments, private companies and rural communities to know their rights and responsibilities and to act on them. Many African countries are yet to fully implement land and other natural resources policy frameworks developed by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). These require states to strengthen the rights of rural populations to access, control and own such resources and to decentralise land administration. To date, rural communities in many countries lack proper knowledge about their rights and responsibilities; the roles of public and private sector and civil society – in their national policies; and legal frameworks governing natural resources.
Opportunities and challenges in Tanzania’s sugar industry: Lessons for SAGCOT and the New Alliance
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2014) Sulle, Emmanuel; Smalley, Rebecca; Malale, Lameck
Sugarcane outgrower schemes are central to several policy and donor strategies for driving agricultural growth and reducing poverty, including the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor project in Tanzania (SAGCOT). But field research into the outgrower component of Kilombero Sugar Company, Tanzania’s largest and best regarded sugar producer, demonstrates a pressing need for change. Sugarcane production in Kilombero has had benefits for farming households as well as the local and national economy. However, unsustainable expansion and governance issues in the outgrower scheme have created new risks. There are pressures on food security as a result of a decline in land for food crops, and on incomes, particularly when outgrowers’ cane remains unharvested and farmers’ payments are delayed. These problems have been aggravated by the importation of foreign sugar into the country. For this industry to provide its maximum benefits to the economy and to the household, a policy, legal and institutional framework is needed that provides greater efficiency, accountability and transparency, as well as greater security for all participating stakeholders. There are lessons for the sugar industry, as well as donors and investors of ongoing and future agribusiness developments in Tanzania.
Opportunities and challenges in Tanzania’s sugar industry: Lessons for SAGCOT and the New Alliance
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2014) Sulle, Emmanuel; Smalley, Rebecca; Malale, Lameck
Sugarcane outgrower schemes are central to several policy and donor strategies for driving agricultural growth and reducing poverty, including the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor project in Tanzania (SAGCOT). But field research into the outgrower component of Kilombero Sugar Company, Tanzania’s largest and best regarded sugar producer, demonstrates a pressing need for change. Sugarcane production in Kilombero has had benefits for farming households as well as the local and national economy. However, unsustainable expansion and governance issues in the outgrower scheme have created new risks. There are pressures on food security as a result of a decline in land for food crops, and on incomes, particularly when outgrowers’ cane remains unharvested and farmers’ payments are delayed. These problems have been aggravated by the importation of foreign sugar into the country. For this industry to provide its maximum benefits to the economy and to the household, a policy, legal and institutional framework is needed that provides greater efficiency, accountability and transparency, as well as greater security for all participating stakeholders. There are lessons for the sugar industry, as well as donors and investors of ongoing and future agribusiness developments in Tanzania.
Reframing the New Alliance agenda: A critical assessment based on insights from Tanzania
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2013) Sulle, Emmanuel; Hall, Ruth
A dedicated investment in smallholder farmers to enable them to improve their land use and productivity is critical to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth in African countries. The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (‘New Alliance’) focuses on public-private partnership (PPPs) with local investors and multinational corporations (MNCs) to produce food. However, this is unlikely to solve chronic problems of hunger, malnutrition and poverty because of under-investment in smallholder agriculture, and the rolling back of state support following structural adjustment programmes from the 1980s onwards. The initial signs of New Alliance implementation, instead of reversing this chronic under-investment in smallholder agriculture, suggests the adoption of corporate agriculture, either turning smallholder farmers into wage workers and hooking them into value chains in which they have to compete with MNCs, or expelling them to search for alternative livelihoods in the growing cities. Although tempered by promotion of ‘outgrower’ schemes, in practice this agenda promotes large-scale commercialisation. We argue that African countries engaging with the New Alliance should focus instead on securing citizens’ access to land, water and improved governance. African countries have a better chance of addressing the root causes behind rural poverty and low agricultural productivity by investing directly in smallholder farmers themselves.
Reframing the New Alliance agenda: A critical assessment based on insights from Tanzania
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2013) Sulle, Emmanuel; Hall, Ruth
A dedicated investment in smallholder farmers to enable them to improve their land use and productivity is critical to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth in African countries. The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (‘New Alliance’) focuses on public-private partnership (PPPs) with local investors and multinational corporations (MNCs) to produce food. However, this is unlikely to solve chronic problems of hunger, malnutrition and poverty because of under-investment in smallholder agriculture, and the rolling back of state support following structural adjustment programmes from the 1980s onwards. The initial signs of New Alliance implementation, instead of reversing this chronic under investment in smallholder agriculture, suggests the adoption of corporate agriculture, either turning smallholder farmers into wage workers and hooking them into value chains in which they have to compete with MNCs, or expelling them to search for alternative livelihoods in the growing cities. Although tempered by promotion of ‘outgrower’ schemes, in practice this agenda promotes large-scale commercialisation. We argue that African countries engaging with the New Alliance should focus instead on securing citizens’ access to land, water and improved governance. African countries have a better chance of addressing the root causes behind rural poverty and low agricultural productivity by investing directly in smallholder farmers themselves.
Smallholder views on Chinese agricultural investments in Mozambique and Tanzania in the context of VGGTS
(MDPI, 2023) Pointer, Rebecca; Sulle, Emmanuel; Ntauazi, Clemente
Based on a case study in each country, this study documents the views of Mozambican and Tanzanian smallholders regarding Chinese agricultural investments and the extent to which investors abide by their legitimate land tenure rights as defined by the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Forests and Fisheries in the Context of National Food Security (VGGTs). The VGGTs offer guidelines to government on how to protect the land tenure of rural communities when land is being acquired for large-scale land investments. The study also assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smallholders. Due to COVID-19, instead of fieldwork, we conducted telephone interviews with 20 smallholders in Mozambique and 35 in Tanzania. The Mozambican case showed that even when land set aside for investors was not in dispute, smallholders still had unmet expectations, especially regarding investors’ corporate social responsibility activities. In the Tanzanian case, even though the land leased by the Chinese investor had been designated as general land, it had laid fallow for a long period, and smallholders had moved back onto the land, only to be displaced in 2017.
Social differentiation and the politics of land: Sugar cane outgrowing in Kilombero, Tanzania
(Taylor & Francis, 2017) Sulle, Emmanuel
The privatisation of formerly state-owned sugar cane estates and mills in the late 1990s led to the reconfiguration of the ownership structure and production of the Tanzanian sugar industry. This included the decentralisation of sugar cane production operations to outgrowers and their associations. Based on an investigation of sugar cane outgrowers of the Kilombero Sugar Company, this article explores the outcomes of this transformation and the dynamics of social differentiation, and the ways in which this is shaped by Tanzania’s institutional and legal framework governing the sugar industry. While increased sugar cane production has created jobs and income for some outgrower households, it has also been associated with several adverse impacts. Large-scale outgrowers have rapidly captured the most lucrative business opportunities and the land they require, marginalising smaller outgrowers. This is further exacerbated by heightened competition among farmers and patronage relations affecting the distribution of harvest quotas and cheap sugar imports. The outgrower model is central to national development initiatives such as the Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania and ‘Big Results Now’. Despite the grand ambitions of large-scale agricultural commercialisation, who wins and who loses out depends more on the local political economy, where the sugar industry, local business, political elites and local communities compete for the benefits of expanded sugar production.
Study of sugarcane outgrowing at Kilombero
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015) Sulle, Emmanuel
Tanzanian food producers, vendors and traders need direct relief measures in the face of the Covid-19
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2021) Sulle, Emmanuel; Kissoly, Luitfred; Qamara, Rose; Lukanga, Editrudith; Mbisso, Daniel; Mzinga, Joe
Key messages • Tanzania’s responses to Covid-19 pandemic have shifted over time. An initial ambiguous position refrained from imposing hard lockdown restrictions measures and focused on local remedies. In the second year of the pandemic, and under new political leadership, this has given way to the promotion of a national vaccination programme. • Despite the absence of any significant hard lockdown measures in the country, Tanzania’s food producers, vendors and traders faced disrupted domestic food markets and were locked out of the regional market. As a result, these food-system actors incurred significant business losses during the two first waves of the pandemic. • Although food producers, vendors and traders play a central role in sustaining national food security their interests have not been properly considered in the development and implementation of official Covid-19 relief measures. • Women and youth constitute the majority of food system actors, including in the production and trade of food, and were thus disproportionately harmed by the disruption of the system. • The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the fragility of regional and international trade frameworks and the critical need for top-level diplomatic and political solutions to strengthen national and African food systems and the livelihoods of food system actors in Tanzania and the continent more broadly.

Browsing by Author "Sulle, Emmanuel"

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