OPINION

By Dr. Agnes Kalibata

As an institution that works to improve the wellbeing of millions of Africa’s smallholder farmers, we are deeply concerned about COVID-19, the global pandemic that threatens so many of us. We continue to keep those that are affected in our thoughts and prayers and urge the rest of us to practice prevention measures as guided by governments and public health experts.

Each of the 14 countries that AGRA partners with has imposed some degree of restrictions to protect the populations from the spread of the virus. This is clearly an important protective step, but we also need to consider the very real danger that the COVID-19 pandemic will leave in its wake a food security crisis that could affect the political, social and economic health of African countries. Already over 250 million people in Africa are without food. These vulnerable populations will suffer more from both the short- and long-term effects of the pandemic.According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Africa’s GDP growth is expected to drop from 3.2% to 1.8% which will likely increase the number of people without food.

As health workers battle to slow down the spread of the disease, all measures must be taken to ensure that people have food now, in the recovery period and beyond. If this is not done, COVID-19 will result in a food crisis that will affect poor people the most, in both rural and urban areas. It is obvious that we can protect the interests and well-being of the most vulnerable among us by ensuring farmers continue to do their work.  Africa’s smallholders produce 80% of the food we eat. It, therefore, goes without saying that if they can’t farm because of COVID- 19, Africa will inevitably face a food crisis.

At AGRA, we are committed to supporting governments and other partners in the countries where we work to support farmers to continue working on their farms. There are very good lessons coming from across Africa and beyond and we will bring these to our countries as we go.  For example, the Indian Government has exempted agriculture and allied activities from the ongoing lockdown. Closer home, we commend efforts by the governments of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana and Ethiopia that are developing or already have guidelines to keep agricultural value chains alive even as they abide by public health guidelines. The Government of Ethiopia,for example, is finding ways to get inputs to farmers at lower prices than usual to ensure that all farmers have access to the right inputs. In Ghana, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has secured inputs, seed and fertilizer, for farmers through the government flagship Planting for Food and Jobs program. The government is also supporting rice millers with working capital so they can continue purchasing rice from farmers. In Kenya, the government willstock up cereals and pulses for use to mitigate the COVID-19 food security challenges. Additionally, the Village Based Advisors (VBAs) in the country have come up with creative ways of delivering government subsided inputs to farmers while educating them on COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Our collective duty now is to ensure that efforts like these are scaled up across the continent. At AGRA, we are committed to working with our partners and governments to support farmers, most of whom are women and youth; to plant, harvest, transport, and sell food without endangering their safety and that of others.  We will do this by working with governments to ensure that village-based agrodealers shops stay open to enable farmers access inputs at affordable prices. We will also expand the role of the Village-based Advisors (VBAs) to continue providing extension services to farmers. To this end, we will equip the agrodealers and VBAs with safety equipmentand information as well as step up the use of digital tools, mobile phones and radio to enable the VBAs reach farmers easily and safely. We are not being prescriptive but believe that we all have to do what it takes to support the farmers; doing nothing and wishing this pandemic away is not an option.  

In addition to our partner governments, we recognize the hundreds of implementing partners, we work with. We want to assure them that we remain fully committed to our partnership and are prepared to be as flexible and supportive as possible in how they organise their operations to deal with the pandemic while continuing to deliver. My team and I are available to support them in all ways possible. Let us communicate openly about the challenges we are facing and work together to find ways of overcoming them.

In the long-term, this pandemic underscores the need for Africa to focus on agriculture transformation as its surest path to inclusive economic growth to build the resilience of its population. Our fragility with regards to food access is exacerbated by the fact that we import significant amounts of food, we depend on smallholder-led and rain-fed agriculture and we are in the midst of already existing shocks from climate change and locust invasions.  As countries grapple with COVID-19, African countries must maintain laser focus the sufficiency of their food production. Together with our partners, we will carry on rolling out innovative ways and building partnerships to transform smallholder farming from a solitary struggle to survive to farming as a business that thrives.

In all these, leadership and coordinated action are required at global, national and local levels to find solutions for food systems that are responsive to and supportive of public health measures.

Dr Kalibata is the President at AGRA

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Extraordinary times call for extraordinary decisions! The Covid-19 pandemic is one such.

All have been advised to employ social distancing to curb spread of the coronavirus.

Employers have released staff and, in some cases, asked them to work from home.

This may be confusing, as many have never worked from home.

Human resource departments might not have had adequate time to orient staff before offices were vacated following a government advisory.

It is still possible to be productive from home.
 
Start with a plan: Not everything can be done from home, but in the contributions of continuity of business plans in the extraordinary times, ensure you have the most important tasks taken care of. Ensure your plan resonates and is aligned with the priorities of your organisation.

Create a working space: Business has to continue, but differently and uniquely. Figure out a space that you could convert into a temporary office. It could be your living room, bedroom or even garage, but the environment needs to be conducive enough to enable you to deliver. Where necessary, make children understand your need to be alone. Do not assume that they already understand, even though they could be knowing they are home because of the pandemic. This will help reduce distractions.

Embrace technology: Do not take the technology at your exposure for granted. Be ready to learn and embrace new ways of doing things. Also take your time to learn the new communication platforms such as Blue Jeans and zoom, and help your colleagues to learn the same remotely whenever necessary. Working on Google docs will enable you to deliver. This could also be the time your employer could be looking out for the swiftest and most creative minds.

Consult: Consultation is easier in a physical office where you can walk to a colleague or just call an extension. But that luxury is gone. Frequent calls to your supervisor may not even be appreciated. However, try not to take random decisions without involving relevant authorities. Quarantine is not excuse for recklessness.

Create time for family: We have to deliver, but that does not mean complete hibernation. Take breaks and show up. Take this opportunity to show your people, especially children, what you do. You could involve them in your work, where possible, to help them appreciate your job.

Know netiquette: The only means of operation at this time is internet. Acquaint yourself with the relevant internet etiquette by ensuring your microphone and video are on mute while not speaking in a conference call, as the background destructions annoy and are a sign of disrespect to your team.

Evaluate your achievements: Take stock of what you have achieved every day, as this will motivate you. Accept the change: We are absorbing the extraordinary shock that has been brought by Covid-19. Even with the uncertainty, worrying is not the solution. Take the right measures while trying to deliver.   

Ann Kobia is a HR and organisation development specialist at Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.

KWALE, Kenya - Ashura Shehe Boi, 41, is struggling to take care of her seven siblings after their mother died in 2013 from a stroke she suffered when her house was razed down and the family evicted from their ancestral land.

A few kilometres away from her home, there are graves of Juma Gomba and Juma Zaidi, both who were arrested, tortured and died for opposing evictions of their families.
At another home, Hassan Salim Dongo is at a bitter man after losing his son, Feisal Hassan, who died from burns after their house was torched by goons hired by the owner of Kwale International Sugar Company (KISCOL) in Msambweni, Kwale County. This happened under the watch of security officers.

Another child agednine years is living with scars sustained when he was burnt in their house during the fateful day. A medical examination report signed by a Mr Chebii, a medical officer, on October 7, 2010 shows that Hassan suffered burnt scars on the chest, breasts, elbow and hip.

Life with evictions, arrests and threats have become the order of the day for the locals of six areas of Msambweni in Kwale.
The people here are fighting for LR. No. 5004/30/R, the 49,000 acres of land in Mabatani, Nyumba Sita, Vidziani, Gonjora, Fahamuni and Kingwede areas.
According to land records, the land was at independence registered as a trust land belonging to the Digo community which has lived there since time immemorial and have no other place to call home.

But the troubles of the families who now number to 4,000 families with an estimated population of 10, 000 began in 2008 when armed security officers supervised the burning down of their houses, cutting down of their coconuts, mangoes, maizeplants and trees and forcefully evicted them at the dead of the night.

“My mother Fatuma Shehe Boi suffered a stroke as a result of shock when she saw her house burnt. She had kept gold in our house but it was all lost. She was bedridden from 2008 and died in 2013 leaving me with the task of taking care of my seven siblings,” Ashura says.

Suleiman Bakari Shauri, 65, chairman of the Vidziani Farmers Group which the affected families formed to fight for their rights is a bitter man and accuses politicians, senior government officials and owners of the Kwale International Sugar Company Ltd (KISCOL) for their woes.

“My parents who died recently aged 80 and 61 respectively were born and lived here all their lives. It beats reason that now we are being evicted from our ancestral land. Our problems began when former president Mwai Kibaki visited here in 2007 and promised to give the owner of KISCOL 15,000 acres of land for a sugarcane nucleus estate for his factory,” Shauri says.

He says the 15,000 acres are located close to Ramisi sugar factory but the owner has now laid claim on the neighbouring 49,000 acres that are being occupied by the 40,000 families.
According to a search done at the Department of the Registrar General in Nairobi under the Companies Act (Cap 486) on June 18, 2012, KISCOL is owned by Rajesh Pabari and Kaushik Pabari. Both are directors cum shareholders with 500,000 shares each.

Investigations further reveal that the two now control 80 per cent of the shareholding and have entered into partnership with leading Mauritian sugar producers, Omnicane, who have acquired 20 per cent of the total shareholding.

KISCOL replaced the old Ramisi sugar factory which closed shop in 1989. “The old factory owner’s lease of 99 years expired in 1986 and former president Daniel Arap Moi ordered that all the land that was initially occupied by sugarcane be reverted to the community. This was minus ours that we are fighting for now,” Shauri says.
Said Omar, vice chairman of the group says the community is leaving in fear and without hope of ever getting the justice they are fighting for. He says the owner of the factory is so brutal that he does not even care about court orders.

“He colludes with security officers and hires goons who come to burn down our houses. Sudi Twabara, who offered us land to build temporary structures after we were evicted was arrested and taken to Msambweni police station. He was arrested in 2008. He came back a few days later shaken and died a few days later. We don’t know what happened to him,” Omar says.

The troubles forced Shauri, Omar, Ashura and other committee members of their group who are Kassim Ali Kama, Tsudzi Bamvua, Abdalla Reja, Bakari Ali Nguvu and Rama Mwinyi Madzumba to move to court.

The committee members together with other 61 community members have filed a petition at the High Court in Mombasa under the Constitutional and Judicial Review Division. The petition number 65 of 2011 was first heard at the Mombasa court on October 25, 2011. It was filed on behalf of the petitioners by lawyer Japheth Chidzipha.
The petitioners want KISCOL owner’s servants, agents or employees permanently stopped from evicting them from their ancestral land as continued evictions have rendered them homeless and destitute.

“Chidzipha has already pulled out of the case. We are now being represented by lawyer Christine Kipsang. The case will again be heard on 17 of this month. Though the case has dragged on now close for a decade, we are optimistic we will emerge winners, one day,” Shauri says.
Kwale County Lands and Environment County Executive Committee Member (CEC) Member Saumu Beja Mahaja who spoke on authority from area Governor Salim Mvurya said there is no way they will abandon the community.

“We are supporting the community in court and we are awaiting the ruling which we hope will give back the land the rightful owners. We welcome investors but we are not ready to let our people lose lives, land, homes and their livelihood over profit,” Mahaja said in her office in Kwale.

She said Mvurya has visited the troubled area to stop evictions and has vowed that his administration will make sure the land is returned to the locals.

“We are aware of the interest by high ranking politicians to grab land here because it is rich in minerals and is even home to the Base Titanium company and maginificent beaches that allow you to see the ocean’s blue water and the Chale Island. But investment should not be done at the expense of lives,” Mahaja says.

According to the company’s audit report the financial year ended December, 2017, KISCOL posted a Sh75 million profit. In 2016, it made a loss of Sh618 million.
The company's core activities include processing of sugarcane for the production of sugar, ethanol and electricity and record show it is a $200 million sugar processing facility, incorporating 5,500 hectares of cultivated cane, a 3,000 tonnes-crushed-per-day sugar mill and an 18 megawatt bagasse-fired power plant. It is listed as one of the largest green field projects in Africa andbegan fully operating in 2014.

Kwale County Women Representative Zulekha Juma says the land belongs to the residents and indigenous owners of the villages of Vidzaini, Fingirika, Vumbu, Nyumba Sita, Fahamuni, Mabatani, and Gonjora.

“I blame former National Lands Commission (NLC) chairman Prof Muhammad Swazuri, who ironically comes from Msambweni for authoring a letter that allowedeviction of the locals to make space for planting of sugarcane. This is inhuman and fraudulent,” Zulekha says. Swazuri has since left NLC and is in court fighting against corruption and abuse of office accusations.
The team visited former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in Nairobi to seek for assistance.

“We visited Raila on July 15 this year. He listened to us and took us to Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i. Our intention was to meet President Uhuru Kenyatta and request him to give us our land back but we missed the opportunity. Matiang’i promised to investigate the matter,” Shauri says.

The story was first published by The Standard Media Group as part of Protus Bertha Foundation 2019/2020 Fellowship.

The writer is a Bertha Fellow.

KWALE, Kenya - Ashura Shehe Boi, 41, is struggling to take care of her seven siblings after their mother died in 2013 from a stroke she suffered when her house was razed down and the family evicted from their ancestral land.

A few kilometres away from her home, there are graves of Juma Gomba and Juma Zaidi, both who were arrested, tortured and died for opposing evictions of their families.
At another home, Hassan Salim Dongo is at a bitter man after losing his son, Feisal Hassan, who died from burns after their house was torched by goons hired by the owner of Kwale International Sugar Company (KISCOL) in Msambweni, Kwale County. This happened under the watch of security officers.

Another child agednine years is living with scars sustained when he was burnt in their house during the fateful day. A medical examination report signed by a Mr Chebii, a medical officer, on October 7, 2010 shows that Hassan suffered burnt scars on the chest, breasts, elbow and hip.

Life with evictions, arrests and threats have become the order of the day for the locals of six areas of Msambweni in Kwale.
The people here are fighting for LR. No. 5004/30/R, the 49,000 acres of land in Mabatani, Nyumba Sita, Vidziani, Gonjora, Fahamuni and Kingwede areas.
According to land records, the land was at independence registered as a trust land belonging to the Digo community which has lived there since time immemorial and have no other place to call home.

But the troubles of the families who now number to 4,000 families with an estimated population of 10, 000 began in 2008 when armed security officers supervised the burning down of their houses, cutting down of their coconuts, mangoes, maizeplants and trees and forcefully evicted them at the dead of the night.

“My mother Fatuma Shehe Boi suffered a stroke as a result of shock when she saw her house burnt. She had kept gold in our house but it was all lost. She was bedridden from 2008 and died in 2013 leaving me with the task of taking care of my seven siblings,” Ashura says.

Suleiman Bakari Shauri, 65, chairman of the Vidziani Farmers Group which the affected families formed to fight for their rights is a bitter man and accuses politicians, senior government officials and owners of the Kwale International Sugar Company Ltd (KISCOL) for their woes.

“My parents who died recently aged 80 and 61 respectively were born and lived here all their lives. It beats reason that now we are being evicted from our ancestral land. Our problems began when former president Mwai Kibaki visited here in 2007 and promised to give the owner of KISCOL 15,000 acres of land for a sugarcane nucleus estate for his factory,” Shauri says.

He says the 15,000 acres are located close to Ramisi sugar factory but the owner has now laid claim on the neighbouring 49,000 acres that are being occupied by the 40,000 families.
According to a search done at the Department of the Registrar General in Nairobi under the Companies Act (Cap 486) on June 18, 2012, KISCOL is owned by Rajesh Pabari and Kaushik Pabari. Both are directors cum shareholders with 500,000 shares each.

Investigations further reveal that the two now control 80 per cent of the shareholding and have entered into partnership with leading Mauritian sugar producers, Omnicane, who have acquired 20 per cent of the total shareholding.

KISCOL replaced the old Ramisi sugar factory which closed shop in 1989. “The old factory owner’s lease of 99 years expired in 1986 and former president Daniel Arap Moi ordered that all the land that was initially occupied by sugarcane be reverted to the community. This was minus ours that we are fighting for now,” Shauri says.
Said Omar, vice chairman of the group says the community is leaving in fear and without hope of ever getting the justice they are fighting for. He says the owner of the factory is so brutal that he does not even care about court orders.

“He colludes with security officers and hires goons who come to burn down our houses. Sudi Twabara, who offered us land to build temporary structures after we were evicted was arrested and taken to Msambweni police station. He was arrested in 2008. He came back a few days later shaken and died a few days later. We don’t know what happened to him,” Omar says.

The troubles forced Shauri, Omar, Ashura and other committee members of their group who are Kassim Ali Kama, Tsudzi Bamvua, Abdalla Reja, Bakari Ali Nguvu and Rama Mwinyi Madzumba to move to court.

The committee members together with other 61 community members have filed a petition at the High Court in Mombasa under the Constitutional and Judicial Review Division. The petition number 65 of 2011 was first heard at the Mombasa court on October 25, 2011. It was filed on behalf of the petitioners by lawyer Japheth Chidzipha.
The petitioners want KISCOL owner’s servants, agents or employees permanently stopped from evicting them from their ancestral land as continued evictions have rendered them homeless and destitute.

“Chidzipha has already pulled out of the case. We are now being represented by lawyer Christine Kipsang. The case will again be heard on 17 of this month. Though the case has dragged on now close for a decade, we are optimistic we will emerge winners, one day,” Shauri says.
Kwale County Lands and Environment County Executive Committee Member (CEC) Member Saumu Beja Mahaja who spoke on authority from area Governor Salim Mvurya said there is no way they will abandon the community.

“We are supporting the community in court and we are awaiting the ruling which we hope will give back the land the rightful owners. We welcome investors but we are not ready to let our people lose lives, land, homes and their livelihood over profit,” Mahaja said in her office in Kwale.

She said Mvurya has visited the troubled area to stop evictions and has vowed that his administration will make sure the land is returned to the locals.

“We are aware of the interest by high ranking politicians to grab land here because it is rich in minerals and is even home to the Base Titanium company and maginificent beaches that allow you to see the ocean’s blue water and the Chale Island. But investment should not be done at the expense of lives,” Mahaja says.

According to the company’s audit report the financial year ended December, 2017, KISCOL posted a Sh75 million profit. In 2016, it made a loss of Sh618 million.
The company's core activities include processing of sugarcane for the production of sugar, ethanol and electricity and record show it is a $200 million sugar processing facility, incorporating 5,500 hectares of cultivated cane, a 3,000 tonnes-crushed-per-day sugar mill and an 18 megawatt bagasse-fired power plant. It is listed as one of the largest green field projects in Africa andbegan fully operating in 2014.

Kwale County Women Representative Zulekha Juma says the land belongs to the residents and indigenous owners of the villages of Vidzaini, Fingirika, Vumbu, Nyumba Sita, Fahamuni, Mabatani, and Gonjora.

“I blame former National Lands Commission (NLC) chairman Prof Muhammad Swazuri, who ironically comes from Msambweni for authoring a letter that allowedeviction of the locals to make space for planting of sugarcane. This is inhuman and fraudulent,” Zulekha says. Swazuri has since left NLC and is in court fighting against corruption and abuse of office accusations.
The team visited former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in Nairobi to seek for assistance.

“We visited Raila on July 15 this year. He listened to us and took us to Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i. Our intention was to meet President Uhuru Kenyatta and request him to give us our land back but we missed the opportunity. Matiang’i promised to investigate the matter,” Shauri says.

The story was first published by The Standard Media Group as part of Protus Bertha Foundation 2019/2020 Fellowship.

The writer is a Bertha Fellow.