provinceorstate:the garwula district

  • Liberian women impacted by expansion of Sime Darby’s oil palm plantations
    http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/21726

    The Garwula District, in Grand Cape Mount County, is one of the areas affected by the 63-year lease agreement signed by the Malaysian giant oil palm producer Sime Darby with the Government of Liberia in 2009. When the company established large scale export-oriented oil palm plantations the livelihoods of the local residents were disrupted, and women have had to cope with many difficulties.

    The report “Uncertain futures. The impacts of Sime Darby on communities” (1) produced by the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) and World Rainforest Movement (WRM) and also quoted in another article of this bulletin, gives a deeper insight in how industrial oil palm plantations affect women in a differentiated way.

    The report says that “(T)he months of December through March are mostly sunny and dry in Liberia. At this timeof the year, there is a relative abundance of food in most villages. But more than that, this is also a moment of strategic value to the women – the ideal time for processing cassava into Garie for sale and domestic consumption. Garie is a cereal-type cassava product that is eaten widely throughout Liberia. It is very easy to prepare and can be prepared in many different ways. Women in the area set up small businesses processing and marketing the Garie. They are known for producing high quality Garie and local consumers favor their products. This was a major income earner mainly for women”.

    Not only farming but also the forest had been particularly important for women as with the forest products they gathered they could make a variety of household items like fishing nets and baskets, of utmost importance in villages that rely on fishing as a major source of protein. The sale of the surplus fish can also provide a small income for the family.

    But Sime Derby came and took away the farms and the forest along with the food sovereignty and even the sacred sites in the forest in order to plant oil palm. Women’s source of income, which empowered them and gave them pride, was lost.

    #Liberia #huile_de_palme #agrobusiness #agrocarburant #femmes #arnaque