Evidence of the effects of land
grabbing in the region, where ProSavana is being implemented, on the
peasants particularly women is beginning to show. In Nampula
province, women are being prevented from passing in the areas where
the foreign companies operate. They cannot access the firewood or
gather wild foods.
This reality was reported during a discussion
panel on “Structural challenges to development of peasant
agriculture in Mozambique: peoples’ demands in regard to
ProSavana”, at the Second Triangular Conference of the Peoples,
held on 24 July 2014, in Maputo.
In this panel, many reports were
made on the violation of the access rights to land of women in
particular. In rural areas, women are the ones who work the land to
provide for their families and fetch firewood to cook. Ana Paula, a
peasant from the peasant movement UNAC based in Nampula, said that in
that region women are forbidden to exercise their right to use and
exploit the land, which, in itself is a clear violation of the Law of
the Land.
This Law requires that community be consulted to grant
lands to companies, thus giving communities the right to refuse, as
in cases where such land granting implies the abuse of their rights.
“We women are suffering from grabbing of the land. As women, we
can’t even pass through the lands where the project is based to
fetch firewood, or to take roots from the soil to use for medicines
for our families. As a result, we are going through really hard times
because of these companies that are using the land in Nampula and in
other areas” said Ana Paula, peasant and leader of UNAC.
She called
on the government to cease the production of soy and other crops for
export as they cause health problems due to the use of agro-toxins,
as it happened in Brazil in the Cerado brasileiro region.
“We ask
the government to hear the peasants and not allow the production of
crops that bring agro-toxins, for they cause diseases. And I want to
call on the governments of Japan and Brazil to stop thinking that we
have large portions of available and abandoned land in Mozambique. The Mozambican population is growing and needs this land to produce
and to live” said Ana.
According to her, the peasants need
technical support, an increase in quality of local seeds and access
to markets to sell their products at a fair price.
from here
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