The G8 New Alliance in Tanzania: Will the Big Results be land-grabbing?
Kristin Sundell, Doug Hertzler
Tanzania is a showcase for public-private partnership in agricultural growth, exemplified by the development of its Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor (SAGCOT),, declared the New Alliance agreement released by the US government at the Group of Eight summit in May 2012. As one of the first countries to join the G88s New Alliance, Tanzania is supposed to be an example for other African countries on how reduce poverty by attracting agricultural investment through policy concessions regarding land, taxes, and agricultural inputs. While the US administration trumpeted SAGCOT, its own experts on land tenure and the environment were not so sanguine. An unpublished USAID assessment of land tenure issues in SAGCOT written one month before the G8 summit stated that the Government of Tanzaniaas land use planning policies would: lead to the displacement of villagers, loss of grazing rights, migratory corridors and water sources for pastoralists, and risks igniting land-based conflict. The assessment also noted that: The concern that the SAGCOT effort may inadvertently result in a situation where large-scale commercial producers receive support at the expense of the poorest farmers is legitimate.
Event: Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2015
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