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Longido farmers in uphill battle against rich investor
2006-12-25 10:52:07
By Adam Ihucha, Longido
Hundreds of peasants in Longido are up in arms against a British large-scale farmer, who allegedly sprayed poisonous chemicals that destroyed an estimated 340 acres of various crops in their precinct.
The firm, known as Mountain Side, is alleged to have used an aircraft to spray herbicides on its barley plantations on December 8, 2006. However, since aerial sprays know no boundaries, the toxic rain crossed the imaginary line and destroyed 340 acres belonging to small-holder farmers.
’’The animosity between the commercial farmer and hundreds of peasants is increasing.
We are trying hard to calm down the irate local population so that they will not take the law into their own hands,” Olmolog ward civic leader Mathias Mollel told visiting reporters.
Mollel said preliminary investigations carried out by both Monduli and Longido district agricultural experts indicated that a total of 232 acres of crop in Elerai Village and 108 others in Olmolog had been damaged by the toxic spray.
The crops comprise of maize, beans and barley. They were destroyed prematurely at Olmolog and Elerai villages in Longido, about 100 km north-east of Arusha.
Mollel said that at least 800 peasants; who depend directly on farming for their livelihood, have indicated interest in seeking compensation. However, Mountain Side is alleged to be reluctant to reach a compromise.
’’They have made it clear that they need compensation. As you can see, they have nothing to keep them going,’’ Mollel said, adding that the firm had not even bothered to apologize, leave alone to listen to their pleas.
Upon being contacted, the MP for Longido, Michael Lekule, told The Guardian that all he wanted was for the small-holder farmers to be compensated, short of that they should resort to a court solution.
Asked whether he had contacted the commercial farmer, the MP said: ’’I didn’t do so because when the Longido District Commissioner James Olenillia called the investor for a meeting to discuss the issue, he (the investor) said that he didn’t have time.
I therefore knew any efforts to seek his cooperation would not bear fruit.’’
However, when The Guardian contacted a TPRI senior official, he said that the issue had not been brought to the attention of the Institute.
The official, who opted for anonymity, said that if the incident really occurred, then official investigations were going to be conducted.
Asked about possible penalty in case the drifting really took place, he said the Plant Protection Act of 1997 was silent on the issue of ’’drifting’’ (of spray) which led to damage of nearby crops.
’’There is only a 2m/- fine if the guilty party had used prohibited, unlabelled or expired herbicides,” the official said.
Given this background, the Longido small-holder farmers face an uphill battle to recover the loss they have suffered, unless direct government intervention occurs.
Efforts by the Guardian to get comments from the managing director of Mountainside, one Lucas Edward, proved futile over the weekend.
Additional efforts to contact the Longido District Commissioner, James Olenillia, did not bear fruit as his mobile phone number was unreachable.
However, the DC as well as the local MP are understood to have written the Arusha regional commissioner in relation to the matter.
Yesterday, the Arusha regional commissioner, Col. Samwel Albert Ndomba, admitted that he had received the DC’s letter.
’’I have instructed the DC to go to the affected area and make an on-the-spot assessment.
This will put me in a proper position to act. We cannot compromise over such issues,’’ he told The Guardian.
However, the RC said that Mountainside farms are located at Siha District in Kilimanjaro Region, and it is from there that the herbicide sprays drifted into villages located in Longido District, which is part of Arusha Region.
’’I have instructed the Longido DC to meet his Siha counterpart so that they jointly conduct an on-the-ground evaluation,’’ he said, adding that the matter deserved prompt attention.
This is the second time for Mountain side to cause untold crop damage to peasants living around its farming area.
In 2003, some 350 acres of crops were completely destroyed at Siha in Kilimanjaro Region when the firm made aerial herbicide sprays.
At that time, about 650 affected peasants from Masinoni and Elerai villages whose maize, beans, and sweet potatoes were destroyed, apparently resolved to forgive the same investor so as to safeguard their cordial relationship.
According to the TPRI Investigation Report of 2003, Mountainside was found to have used a herbicide known as glyehosate, yet the farmers in Siha apparently left the commercial farmer walk Scot free for the sake of maintaining their relationship.
According to Siha residents, glyphosate affects human health and livestock health as well as crops.
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