ISU cuts ties to AgriSol

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

Screw the land grabbers!

 

[Seacliff]

Another blow to the government and indeed to the poor Tanzanians. The project, should it been materialised, could have dug thousands of indigent people out of privation.

It's misapprehension and misconception publicized by, once again, 'rights crusaders' that provoked its termination.

This event yet highlights the ill role executed by the so called activists to hamper and confront government plans to help its people tackle poverty.

If you love this country may be you should stop attacking those who try to stand for the poor and join the "rights crusaders" yourself. It's the out-of-touch people like you who make it necessary for the so-called "right crusaders" to exist. In a country so rich with resources, we shouldn't need right crusaders to be speaking for the poor.

 

[Tinker]

Je sheria zilifuatwa ?

Je Tanzania inasheria ya kuuza ardhi au ya ku lease ardhi?

Je hao jamaa walipewa lease au waliuziwa?

Sheria ya kulease ardhi ilifuatwa au la?

naomba mnijuze

wewe unakosea kuuliza maswali ya msingi, hilo halitakiwi.

Nijuavyo mimi ni kuwa ardhi Tanzania haina umiliku wa moja kwa moja bali kuna lease.

 

[iMind]

Tuliangalie hili swala kwa mifano halisi tuliyonayo, na kwa takwimu za kisayansi kabla ya kuukubali au kuukataa.

Katika mkoa wa iringa hasa wilaya za Mufindi na Njombe, kuna wawekezaji wakubwa katika mashamba ya Miti likiwemo shamba la serikali la sao Hill, Mashamba ya Tanwat, mashama ya Chai, kahawa n.k. Kama kuna wanchi walioporwa ardhi yao basi ni hawa wa Iringa. Je, kuna studies zozote zinaonyesha uwekezaji huo katika kilimo kikubwa umeinua hali za wanavijiji? Je, kuna studies zozote zinazoonyesha uwekezaji huo umedumaza uchumi cha wananchi wa maeneo hayo? Je, kuna studies zozote zinaonyesha baada ya muda gani kutakuwa na upungufu wa ardhi ya kilimo cha chakula?

 

[FJM]

Ni ushindi mwingine wa wanaharakati! Tuliweka documents za ule Mkataba hapa na kuhamasisha kupinga uporaji huu wa ardhi yetu chini ya sera mbovu za kilimo na ardhi za chama tawala.

Kujiondoa kwa ISU kwenye nafasi ya ushauri si chochote si lolote kwa viongozi wa Tanzania hasa Mizengo Pinda ambaye ameapa piga ua huu uchifu Mangungo lazime utimie. Kwa kuanzia tu, Airport inamaliziwa tayari kwa hawa mabwana ili wasipate adha ya usafiri, pili Stella Manyanya kapelekwa pale kwa shughuli 'maalum' na sasa mtoto wa mkulima anajiandaa kuwa 'full-time' mkulima/chifu mangungo kwani ameshasema wazi 2015 hagombei. Msi-understimate kabisa dhamira ya mtoto wa mkulima kwenye huu mpango.

Sijui kama kuna watu wamefika maeneo ya Rukwa, Kigoma hasa yale yaliyokuwa yanatumiwa na wakimbizi. Kuna wamarekani kila kona wengine (wamarekani) wanajidai wako huko kueneza neno la mungu! Wakimbizi waliondolewa kwa nguvu zooooote ili kupisha huu mradi.

Kwa kifupi hii sinema sioni ni kwa vipi itazimwa! Binafsi tatizo langu sio kwenye hii concept ya kuleta wakubwa ila ni mikataba yenyewe.Nilifikiri tumejifunza kitu toka kwenye madini lakini kumbe bado. Hawa wakulima wamechukuwa mashamba makubwa sana sana kwa wakati mmoja huku kukiwa hakuna 'credible evidence' juu ya ukulima wao. Pia malipo ya gharama za ukodishwaji wa mashamba haya ni ya chini mno. Na tatu serikali au niseme waziri mkuu hakuwa makini kuhakikisha huu mpango unawajumuisha wananchi.

Shida waliyonayo wakulima sio nguvu, au nia ya kulima mashamba makubwa ila uwezo. Sasa kama serikali inaleta hiyo nguvu basi nilifikiri ingetumika kama nyongeza na sio 'displacement'. Wakulima wadogo wa Rukwa watafaidika vipi kutokana na huu ujio wa wakulima 'supposedly' wakubwa toka marekani. Hili ndilo swali nilidhani serikali ingetumia kuandaa mkataba lakini nina wasiwasi wamefanya kinyume!.

 

[Ubumuntu]

By Hannah Furfaro


ISU cuts ties to AgriSol | Ames Tribune



Staff Writer




Iowa State University no will longer participate in an advisory capacity on a controversial agriculture project in Tanzania, the university announced Friday.


The large-scale agricultural project, led by Iowa-based company AgriSol Energy, includes introducing new crops and farming techniques to underdeveloped regions in Tanzania. The plan, which originally included leasing land currently occupied by 160,000 refugees from Burundi, has drawn fire over the last several months from the media. AgriSol Energy has since withdrawn its plans to proceed on those plots.


According to a statement from ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Wendy Wintersteen, ISU decided this week to completely end its involvement with AgriSol Energy, because “much of our time and energy has been directed at countering misrepresentations about why and how we were involved.”


In September 2011, ISU unofficially withdrew its plans to work on education and outreach programs related to AgriSol’s project. The university never signed a contract with AgriSol, but individuals from the university, including David Acker, associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and economics professor Kevin Kimle, had traveled to Tanzania to begin planning outreach programs for small farmers affected by the development.


In late January, Wintersteen and representatives from AgriSol said two ISU faculty, Mark Westgate and Kimle, still were working for AgriSol as private consultants. Henry Akona, director of communications at AgriSol, said both Westgate and Kimle have since ended their consulting work with AgriSol. The conclusion of their consulting work occurred “almost simultaneously with Iowa State’s decision” to end their limited advisory role, Akona said. “We’re very sad and disappointed, and we understand that Iowa State needs to make its own decision,” Akona said. “But personally, for me, the point that is getting lost here is exactly what the consulting was. The consulting was HIV, AIDS and malaria prevention; it was food storage; it was how to manage a micro-loan and a checking account; it was how to grow crops in a straight line. It wasn’t how to design nuclear missiles. It wasn’t how to design bombs.”


Kimle did not wish to comment on his consulting work. Westgate could not be reached for comment Friday.
The media attention, Wintersteen said in the statement, has “not been directed at what originally compelled us to explore program development in Tanzania — the role agricultural education can play in helping small farmers and families struggling against poverty and hunger.”


On Monday, Wintersteen notified Eric Moxham, managing director at AltEnergy LLC, a Connecticut and Iowa-based company that was working with AgriSol on the project, that ISU no longer would serve in an advisory capacity to AgriSol.
Wintersteen didn’t elaborate on her decision in her email to Moxham. Moxham was unavailable for comment Friday.


Hannah Furfaro can be reached at (515) 663-6918 or hfurfaro@amestrib.com.

 

[Ubumuntu]

Mjukuu Mtiifu,

Mwaka 1998 kuna timu ya watafiti wanne kutoka Economic Research Bureau na Institute of Resource Assessment ilifanya utafiti wa Sekta ya madini na kugundua madudu mengi sana. Timu hiyo iliomba kukutana na wabunge ili iwape feedback ya utafiti kuhusu mapungufu ya policy ya madini na sheria ya madini ili vifanyiwe kazi. Mkapa aliposikia habari hizo akaagiza wasipewe nafasi hiyo. After some time wakati akizindua mgodi mmoja akiwa ameshika tofali ya dhahabu akasema, "halafu kuna watu wanajiita wasomi kumbe ni wasomi uchwara wanatumia Chuo Kikuu kujificha". Gazeti la RAI ambalo lilim-quote Mkapa, ninalo mpaka leo hii. Miaka 7 baadaye serikali inakuja kukiri kwamba Sheria ya Madini ina mapungufu pamoja na sera ya madini. Fanyeni marekebisho basi, hawapeleki maana wakifanya marekebisho, watakuwa wameziba ulaji wao.

Nchi inaongozwa na viongozi wanafiki kabisa!

Mkuu hilo ni kweli.

Kwa mfano, mzee Ben alikua anti-EIA sana. Hivyo EIA studies nyingi wakati wake hazikua zikikubalika ipasavyo [yaani findings za hizo studies ambazo nyingi (pamoja na udhaifu katika usimamizi wa EIA kwa kipindi hicho) zilikua zikipendekeza kwa miradi kutofanyika n.k., unakumbuka suala la African Fishing Company na Prawns Farming kule Rufiji Delta?!]
Uwa najiuliza sijui aliamua kusaini sheria (namba 20) ya Mazingira ya mwaka 2004!! Au ndio mambo ya global pressure, local context?!?

Nimesikia pia ugonjwa wa kuona EIA as anti-development kamrithisha muungwana. Bilila Lodge kule Siringit na hotel nyingi maeneo ya mbuga za viumbepori na hifadhi za taifa n.k.

Hii ni baadhi ya mifano ya namna gani viongozi wetu wanavyoshindwa ku-appreciate wataalamu wa hapa nyumbani, halafu wananyifanya kukimbilia wataalamu wa nje wasio elewa "local context" ya hapa nyumbani. Sasa sijui kuna faida gani ya kusomesha wataalamu, halafu serikali haiwatumii ipasavyo!!

 

[MWananyati]

[“We’re very sad and disappointed, and we understand that Iowa State needs to make its own decision,” Akona said. “But personally, for me, the point that is getting lost here is exactly what the consulting was. The consulting was HIV, AIDS and malaria prevention; it was food storage; it was how to manage a micro-loan and a checking account; it was how to grow crops in a straight line. It wasn’t how to design nuclear missiles. It wasn’t how to design bombs.”]


In fact, the firm aimed at getting super profit at the of political and economic paralysis of Tanzania systems. Some Tanzanians have reached the extent of betraying their fellow citizens for the sake of their greedy. Iddi Simba, is one of the signatories of MoU between Agrisol and Mpanda Council. Anataka kutuuza watanzania wenzake. PM naye anasapoti kila jambo ambalo anahis laweza kusaidia utekelezaji wa ilani ya uchaguzi wa CCM ya 2005 na 2010 bila kuangalia madhara hasi yatokanayo.

Moreover, the major issues that are associated with the project, and are not adequately elaborated on their agenda 1. Displacement of thousands of people 2. Environmental ISSUES associated with the project.

Kwahio, hatua waliofikia ISU ni nzuri, na ni yellow light kwa maamuzi ya serikali yetu. Hivi kwani mpaka watu wapige kelele ndo wasikiwe? na lazima demonstrations zifanyike mitandaoni ndo hatua zichukuliwe?

 

[Kamundu]

Huu ni ujinga kwamba Viongozi na wastaafu ambao wako Dar ndiyo waamue ni kitu gani muhimu kwa watu wa Rukwa na Kighoma!. Kama serikali ingewahusisha wananchi na manufaa ya mradi wananchi wangeona hii Project isingekufa. Lakini serikali kwenda kuwafukuza watu waliokaa kwa miaka zaidi ya 30 na kuwaita wakimbizi na kunufaisha Idd Simba na Masha haitasaidia nchi. Kusaidia nchi ni kusaidia wananchi.