“When they came,they promised to ensure food security. They also promised to improve infrastructure, build more health centres and schools, besides opening up employment opportunities for our youth. But all we are now seeing is increased poverty and a degraded environment.”
“Prior to the coming of the investor,we were able to access fresh and cleanwater from Yala River and were able to use thenatural resources from the swamp. Now weare forced to consume contaminated water becauseof the degraded environment as a result of Dominion’s activities.” Angeline Owako from Siaya
US company ( Dominion Farms) looking to farm rice in Nigeria and Tanzania left trail of devastation in Kenya GRAIN, 7 September 2011
The people in Nigeria and Tanzania living on the lands now being targetted by US-owned Dominion Farms can learn a lot from the film Good Fortune ( copy below), which provides a behind-the-scenes account of the struggle of a local community in Kenya to defend their lands and livelihoods from Dominion Farms.
Please click on the link below to view the documentary:
http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/19226
Battle over the Yala Swamp
Multi million investment turns outto be a case of a deal gone sour
By OLOO JANAK
The Dominion Farms at Yala Swamp on theshores of Lake Victoria in Siaya County ofNyanza Province is turning into a bitter sweetinvestment tale that has seen the local communityturn against what they initially welcomedwith open hands.
It all began in 2005, when an American investor,Calvin Burgess, President of DominionGroup of Companies and Chief Executive ofDominion Farms, appeared at the Yala Swamparea dangling what the local community andtheir leaders believed was carrot that wouldtransform their lives and end poverty.
At inception, Dominion Farms presented amixture of economic and spiritual transformationto the sleepy and conservative Yala Swampcommunity, largely the Alego and Yimbo communities.Former Kisumu Town MP Reverend KenNyagudi was for a long time the Kenyan face ofthe Dominion investment through a religiousoutfit that drew in thousands of followers whobelieved they would get instant and long termbenefits from this multi-billion project.At the Dominion Farm in Yala, a big whitecross stands on a small hill in the centre of therice fields, a testimony to this religious inclination.Villagers say this used to be a sacredplace for prayer, now fenced off and made inaccessibleto them by the farm management.
Despair
The high hopes and aspirations of thelocal communities that were built throughchurch summons and public barazas promisingchange in their lives appear to have virtuallycollapsed into despair seven years later.It has left in its wake, a trail of complaints,disappointments and spawned a conflict betweenthe local people and the DominionFarms management, sucking in local leadersand government officials.
“They came with promises and we supportedthe projects hoping it would changeour lives but now they have instead turnedagainst us, destroying our very sources oflivelihoods,” says Fred Okumu, a communityleader from Kadenge Village in Alego.
The complaints range from denial of accessto community roads linking Alego and Yimboas well as the surrounding villages, which havebeen fenced off to denial of access to sourcesof water or pollution of water sources.Women complain that they have had miscarriages due to contaminated water while livestockowners say they have been counting losses as mostof their animals have since become sick, thin or died. “This farm has brought division among us,with some of our relatives supporting the investmentwhile others like us are complaining about itsnegative effects,” says Mary Paul, from Bar OlengoVillage. She adds: “Families have separated due tothe ongoing conflict with the farm management.”
Members of the local community complain thefarm management has blocked water or divertedsome canals causing water to flood their farms anddestroy crops, further impoverishing them.The neighbouring community members havebeen on a collision path with the Dominion Farmsmanagement for a long time and despite many engagementmeetings, the disagreements have notbeen sorted out. There have been demonstrationsagainst the farm managers.
Recently, the villagers accused DominionFarm management of destroying their sugarcane,maize and horticultural crops in a sectionof land which they say was set aside for theiruse, part of the 150 acres outlined in agreement.Dominion farm signed an agreement with theSiaya and Bondo County Councils to the effectthat they would give the community 150 acreson each county side. They say grazing lands havebeen reduced and some of their sources of freshwater are now inaccessible.
The communities have allies, especially nongovernmentalorganisations that have steppedin to build the capacity of local communities toengage with the farm managers and governmentand also look at the issues of conservation ofthis unique ecosystem. The area is the breedingground for hundreds of species of fish that populateLake Victoria.
Friends of Yala
A network of about seven civil society organisationsunder the umbrella of “Friends of YalaSwamp (FOYS)” have established a secretariat inSiaya town as part of the effort to engage the communitiesin advocacy campaigns to demand fortheir rights to sustainable utilisation of the land.During a recent community and media encounterforum organised by the Institute for Lawand Environmental Governance (ILEG), whichis part of the Friends of Yala Swamp (FOYS) andin partnership with Media Diversity Centre, aproject of African Woman and Child FeaturesService in Bondo township, it was clear membersof the community have deep seated grievancesthat call for urgent intervention.
Coordinator of FOYS, Dalmas Owino Okellosays they have faced hostility from the DominionFarm owners and local government officials whoaccuse them of inciting the local communityagainst the project.“We receive threats and are being followedaround. At community meetings and even at theoffice, we get visitors who are clearly out to intimidateus so that we can stop empowering the communityin addressing their concerns,” he observes.
Okello says they have made efforts to reachout to the Dominion Farm management, thetwo county councils of Siaya and Bondo as wellas government officials to bring about a multistakeholderapproach to solving the conflict buthave met resistance.
Dominion Farms signed a 25-year leaseagreement with Siaya County Council to investin the Yala Swamp area growing rice, maize andother crops and to also improve fishing usingmodern methods.According to Dominion, the agreement allowedthem to reclaim and use 6,900 hectaresof the swamp, 3,700 hectares in phase one andanother 3,200 hectares in phase two.“We have only reclaimed and put 3,000 hectresto use yet the community is now being incited tobelieve we are encroaching into their land,” saysChris Abir, director and general manager at DominionFarms. He adds: “We allowed the communityto use part of what we reclaimed andinformed them when we wanted to utilise the sectionbut they have now refused to move out.”He says the local community and some of thepoliticians do not appreciate the importance of theinvestment worth KSh5 billion.
Abir argues thatthe investment has transformed the local economy.“We have built shallow wells for the communityaround the farm and are in the process ofputting up a water project that will serve morethan 1,000 people in the area,” he says adding,“We have also employed 1600 people.”Denying claimsOther benefits, Abir says, include support toRatuoro Health Centre where they have constructeda laboratory. They also incur an expenditureof KSh1 million annually to pay fees forlocal children in secondary schools, repair roadsand improve food security.Abir denies claims that the company hascompromised some of the local leaders and governmentofficials to turn a blind eye to the grievancesof the local community.“There are some leaders and NGOs who havechosen to make Dominion Farms look like a devil.At some point they incited the community to literallychase and stone me and the Chief Executive,Calvin Burgess in broad daylight!” he told the Rejectduring an interview at the their offices in Ratuoro recently. As far as Dominion is concerned, thecommunity cannot claim lack of participation andinvolvement since their councillors participatedat every stage through the negotiations and finalagreement.“They are represented by the councillors whosigned the agreement with us. If the councillorsdid not do a good job as they claim, that isnot our business. They should engage the twocouncils which hold the Yala Swamp in trust forthem,” observes Abir.
The Dominion venture at Yala produces 14million kilogrammes of rice, which reportedlyaccounts for 20 per cent of Kenya’s annual riceproduction. This, they say, has improved food securityin Siaya County and nationally.The community has been involved in frequentdemonstrations and has even filed a courtcase at the High Court in Kisumu, contestingwhat they claim to be Dominion’s expansion into“their land”.
Until the case is disposed of, communityengagements and other fora for consultationhave effectively been paralysed.The community denies claims that they wantthe project to close down and insist what they demandare the practical benefits that the managementpromised at inception, a stop to encroachmenton their farms. They have taken issue withthe poor compensation of the farms bought underthe project which was pegged at KSh45,000per acre.However, the Dominion aquaculture managerEnos Were says this price was almost doublethe going price of land at the time.Were puts the value of land at the time the dealwas brokered at KSh23,000 per acre. However,until the current stalemate is dissolved, the arearesidents will not reap maximum benefits from theswamp.
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