223
9
Green Resources in Tanzania
Green Resources (GR) is Africa’s largest forest company with plantations in
Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. The company, which calls itself ‘a leader in
carbon finance’ owns 45,000 ha of standing forest, claims to employ 3500 people and
has 80 shareholders (mostly Norwegian) that have invested about 300 million US
dollars in East African plantation forests.
Around 75% of GR’s forests are certified by Forest Stewardship Council and
there is one plantation in Uganda certified by the Clean Development Mechanism.
The company says it plants ten new trees for each tree harvested, and that plantations are only established on ‘low value grassland or degraded forestland’. Moreover,
the company presents its activities within a sustainable development framework that
implies a focus on community development and local benefits. This includes village
afforestation, the construction of school buildings, roads and village halls and
offices, in addition to providing local employment. In the words of the former CEO
Mads Asprem, ‘no carbon mitigation activity creates larger economic benefits for
the rural poor than afforestation’.
The shareholders of GR have, however, waited for more than 20 years to receive
returns on their investments, while the results have been big losses and falling values
of shares. For instance, in 2014 the company lost 19.9 million US dollars. This
strained financial situation has led to repeated delays in salary payments. Sometimes
payments to plantation workers have been delayed by several months. Simultaneously,
the value chain from production to distribution. Only through such empowerment
can smallholders achieve increased welfare, is the argument. Moreover, small-scale
agriculture is generally seen as sustainable and needs to be strengthened and not
marginalized.
This discourse is supported by a number of non-governmental organizations,
social and environmental justice activists, as well as many critical scholars
including within political ecology. A fair amount of the research supporting this
discourse has been published in the Journal of Peasant Studies. The international
peasant organization La Via Campesina (7 www. viacampesina. org/en) is also
closely connected to this discourse on food sovereignty.
Finally, in this chapter we will discuss two foreign land investments in Tanzania
(Bergius et al. 2018). The first is the tree plantations by the Norwegian forest company Green Resources, which started its operations in East Africa in 1997, before
the current wave of land investments. The second is Kilombero Plantations Ltd
(KPL), which is a large rice plantation owned by the British company Agrica and
the Tanzanian parastatal RUBADA. The KPL plantation was established in 2008
as the international interest in African land as an investment object was taking off.
Both investments have, at the time of writing, an uncertain economic future.
9.1 · Population Growth and Agricultural Development in Africa
9
Green Resources in Tanzania
Green Resources (GR) is Africa’s largest forest company with plantations in
Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. The company, which calls itself ‘a leader in
carbon finance’ owns 45,000 ha of standing forest, claims to employ 3500 people and
has 80 shareholders (mostly Norwegian) that have invested about 300 million US
dollars in East African plantation forests.
Around 75% of GR’s forests are certified by Forest Stewardship Council and
there is one plantation in Uganda certified by the Clean Development Mechanism.
The company says it plants ten new trees for each tree harvested, and that plantations are only established on ‘low value grassland or degraded forestland’. Moreover,
the company presents its activities within a sustainable development framework that
implies a focus on community development and local benefits. This includes village
afforestation, the construction of school buildings, roads and village halls and
offices, in addition to providing local employment. In the words of the former CEO
Mads Asprem, ‘no carbon mitigation activity creates larger economic benefits for
the rural poor than afforestation’.
The shareholders of GR have, however, waited for more than 20 years to receive
returns on their investments, while the results have been big losses and falling values
of shares. For instance, in 2014 the company lost 19.9 million US dollars. This
strained financial situation has led to repeated delays in salary payments. Sometimes
payments to plantation workers have been delayed by several months. Simultaneously,
the value chain from production to distribution. Only through such empowerment
can smallholders achieve increased welfare, is the argument. Moreover, small-scale
agriculture is generally seen as sustainable and needs to be strengthened and not
marginalized.
This discourse is supported by a number of non-governmental organizations,
social and environmental justice activists, as well as many critical scholars
including within political ecology. A fair amount of the research supporting this
discourse has been published in the Journal of Peasant Studies. The international
peasant organization La Via Campesina (7 www. viacampesina. org/en) is also
closely connected to this discourse on food sovereignty.
Finally, in this chapter we will discuss two foreign land investments in Tanzania
(Bergius et al. 2018). The first is the tree plantations by the Norwegian forest company Green Resources, which started its operations in East Africa in 1997, before
the current wave of land investments. The second is Kilombero Plantations Ltd
(KPL), which is a large rice plantation owned by the British company Agrica and
the Tanzanian parastatal RUBADA. The KPL plantation was established in 2008
as the international interest in African land as an investment object was taking off.
Both investments have, at the time of writing, an uncertain economic future.
9.1 · Population Growth and Agricultural Development in Africa