Read the Letter from Sierra Club US and Sierra Club Canada to AGRISOL

Iowa-based investor Bruce Rastetter and fellow investors in the industrial agricultural corporation AgriSol Energy have their sights on 800,000 acres (325,000 hectares) of land in Tanzania that is home to 162,000 people.

The proposed site is inhabited by former refugees from neighboring Burundi. Most of the residents, several generations of families who have successfully re-established their lives by developing and farming the land over the last 40 years, will be displaced against their will. They will lose their livelihoods and their community. Once they are gone, Agrisol Energy will move in.

Despite rising international criticism of the proposed plan to evict the residents in the proposed lease areas for foreign investors, the Tanzanian government plans to move forward with the project.ⁱ

We need your help today to make sure that won’t happen. Please send a message to Bruce Rastetter, other principal investors, and the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, to urge them to drop this project. 

AgriSol has promoted this large-scale land acquisition as a project to transform Tanzania into a “regional agricultural powerhouse” by combining the country’s abundant agricultural natural resources with “modern” farming practices, including the use of genetically modified crops.ⁱⁱ Unfortunately, AgriSol’s plans--which include seeking Strategic Investor Statusⁱⁱⁱ from the Tanzanian government that would grant them tax holidays and other critical investment incentives (including waiver of duties on agricultural and industrial equipment supplies, export guarantees, and certainty for use of GMO and Biotech and production of biofuels), while generating tremendous profit for the investors^iv--will do little, if anything, for Tanzanians. On the contrary, it is likely that if this land deal goes ahead it will set a precedent for future land rights abuses.

More details can be found in the Oakland Institute Brief, AgriSol Energy and Pharos Global Agriculture Fund’s Land Deal in Tanzania.

We fear that this project could move quickly forward unless the Tanzanian government and the US investors realize that the world is watching. We ask that you join the Oakland Institute in holding Bruce Rastetter and AgriSol team accountable and send them the message that proceeding with their plans is not “socially responsible agricultural investment.”

Soma Barua kutoka Sierra Club Marekani na Sierra Club Canada kwa AGRISOL

Iowa makao mwekezaji Bruce Rastetter na wawekezaji wenzake katika viwanda kilimo shirika AgriSol Nishati na macho yao juu ya ekari 800,000 (hekta 325,000) ya ardhi katika Tanzania kwamba ni nyumbani kwa watu 162,000.

mapendekezo tovuti inakaliwa na wakimbizi wa zamani kutoka nchi jirani ya Burundi. Wengi wa wakazi, vizazi kadhaa ya familia kuwa na mafanikio re-imara maisha yao kwa nchi zinazoendelea na kilimo cha zaidi ya miaka 40 iliyopita, itakuwa makazi yao dhidi ya mapenzi yao. Watapoteza maisha yao na jamii yao. Mara moja wamekwenda, Agrisol Nishati utakwenda in

Licha ya ukosoaji wa kimataifa wa mpango wa kupanda mapendekezo ya kumfukuza wakazi katika maeneo ya mapendekezo ya kukodisha kwa ajili ya wawekezaji wa kigeni, serikali ya Tanzania ina mpango wa kusonga mbele na mradi huo. ⁱ

Tunahitaji msaada wako leo ili kuhakikisha kwamba halitafanyika. Tafadhali tuma ujumbe kwa Bruce Rastetter, wawekezaji wengine kuu, na Waziri Mkuu wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania, ili kuwahamasisha tone mradi huu.

AgriSol ina kukuzwa hii kwa kiasi kikubwa upatikanaji wa ardhi kama mradi wa kubadilisha Tanzania katika "nguvu kubwa kikanda kilimo" kwa kuchanganya nchi kubwa ya kilimo na mali asili ya "kisasa" mbinu za kilimo, ikiwa ni pamoja na matumizi ya mazao yenye vinasaba. ⁱⁱ bahati mbaya, mipango ya AgriSol - ambayo ni pamoja na kutafuta Mkakati Wawekezaji Hali ⁱⁱⁱ kutoka serikali ya Tanzania ambayo ingeweza kuwapa likizo ya kodi na vivutio vingine muhimu ya uwekezaji (ikiwa ni pamoja na msamaha wa ushuru wa vifaa vya kilimo na viwanda, dhamana ya kuuza nje, na uhakika kwa ajili ya matumizi ya uzalishaji na GMO na kibayoteki ya nishati ya mimea), wakati kuzalisha faida kubwa kwa wawekezaji ^iv - kwa kufanya kidogo, kama kitu, kwa ajili ya Watanzania. Kinyume chake, kuna uwezekano kwamba kama mpango huu nchi itakuwa inakwenda mbele kuweka historia kwa ajili ya baadaye ya nchi ukiukwaji wa haki za binadamu.

Maelezo zaidi yanaweza kupatikana katika Taasisi ya Oakland fupi, Nishati na Ardhi AgriSol Pharos Global Kilimo Mfuko wa Mpango katika Tanzania .

Sisi hofu kuwa mradi huu inaweza kusonga mbele haraka kama serikali ya Tanzania na wawekezaji wa Marekani kutambua kwamba dunia ni kuangalia. Tunaomba kwamba kujiunga na Taasisi ya Oakland katika kufanya Bruce Rastetter na AgriSol timu ya kuwajibika na kutuma ujumbe kwamba kuendelea na mipango yao si "masuala ya kijamii ya kilimo ya uwekezaji."