Whose success story is BIDCO?
Sep 29, 2009
EDITOR—Early this month, I submitted a researched story about the situation in Kalangala district regarding BIDCO’s palm oil project. The story focused on BIDCO’s negative impact resulting from massive deforestation and forest degradation, land and
EDITOR—Early this month, I submitted a researched story about the situation in Kalangala district regarding BIDCO’s palm oil project. The story focused on BIDCO’s negative impact resulting from massive deforestation and forest degradation, land and human rights violations as well as its negative socio-economic benefits to the local people.
To my surprise, I read in The Business Vision of September 24 about agriculture minister Hope Mwesigye’s ‘success story’ about BIDCO’s palm oil project. This is the exact opposite of the facts on the ground, established during a research tour in Kalangala that I submitted for publication.
My article expresses what I saw and what I heard from sharing with the local people, and the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), which sent us as a team of researchers to carry out a study on the status of cultural forests in Kalangala Islands. This followed the massive deforestation and degradation of rainforests in the name of development.
It is ironical that the Government can continue telling Ugandans that the Kalangala Islands’ palm oil project is a success story. Whose success story is it? Is it BIDCO’s, the local people’s or Kalangala district’s as a whole? mwesigye's story says Kalangala’s palm oil project has delivered on the ‘prosperity for all’ project and ought to be emulated in Buvuma Island, Mukono, Masaka, Masindi and Bundibugyo!
This is shameful! The story on the ground is that the palm oil plantations have grossly and negatively affected the climate. Kalangala, a place where it used to rain virtually everyday has also now started experiencing drought due to BIDCO’s palm oil plantation’s destruction of forests!
The workers in palm oil plantations are paid peanuts to the extent that hardly any local youth, men and women work in the plantations. Only people who have been brought from distant places work there. But many of these are stranded because they can hardly save anything! There are social tensions due to land grabbing and destroying of cultural forests and other sacred sites, which were promoting culture and tourism.
These tensions are brewing leaving Kalangala Island sitting on a time bomb. BIDCO is polluting Lake Victoria with chemicals from fertilisers applied to the otherwise still naturally fertile soils in the palm oil plantations or fertility has been destroyed by palm oil trees (rather grasses).
The ‘success story’ which Hope Mwisigye is telling is what the local people instead are identifying with plague in their midst! Guided tours and calculated enticing speeches by the project promoters are not the truth on the ground. Please investigate the matter.
Julius Babyetsiza Programme Officer for Research and Computer Systems Administration NAPE
To my surprise, I read in The Business Vision of September 24 about agriculture minister Hope Mwesigye’s ‘success story’ about BIDCO’s palm oil project. This is the exact opposite of the facts on the ground, established during a research tour in Kalangala that I submitted for publication.
My article expresses what I saw and what I heard from sharing with the local people, and the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), which sent us as a team of researchers to carry out a study on the status of cultural forests in Kalangala Islands. This followed the massive deforestation and degradation of rainforests in the name of development.
It is ironical that the Government can continue telling Ugandans that the Kalangala Islands’ palm oil project is a success story. Whose success story is it? Is it BIDCO’s, the local people’s or Kalangala district’s as a whole? mwesigye's story says Kalangala’s palm oil project has delivered on the ‘prosperity for all’ project and ought to be emulated in Buvuma Island, Mukono, Masaka, Masindi and Bundibugyo!
This is shameful! The story on the ground is that the palm oil plantations have grossly and negatively affected the climate. Kalangala, a place where it used to rain virtually everyday has also now started experiencing drought due to BIDCO’s palm oil plantation’s destruction of forests!
The workers in palm oil plantations are paid peanuts to the extent that hardly any local youth, men and women work in the plantations. Only people who have been brought from distant places work there. But many of these are stranded because they can hardly save anything! There are social tensions due to land grabbing and destroying of cultural forests and other sacred sites, which were promoting culture and tourism.
These tensions are brewing leaving Kalangala Island sitting on a time bomb. BIDCO is polluting Lake Victoria with chemicals from fertilisers applied to the otherwise still naturally fertile soils in the palm oil plantations or fertility has been destroyed by palm oil trees (rather grasses).
The ‘success story’ which Hope Mwisigye is telling is what the local people instead are identifying with plague in their midst! Guided tours and calculated enticing speeches by the project promoters are not the truth on the ground. Please investigate the matter.
Julius Babyetsiza Programme Officer for Research and Computer Systems Administration NAPE