In the impoverished Shire Valley [of Malawi], a South African company runs a lush, 30,000-acre sugar plantation that uses huge amounts of water from the Shire River every day for irrigation, with energy provided by hydroelectric dams. The plantation employs 7,000 workers and has enough extra water to support extensive landscaping and a small golf course.
But company officials said they had no interest in switching from sugar to corn, which after years of government price controls is seen as unprofitable in Malawi. "To grow maize as a commercial crop, it's not viable," said Irene Phalula, a company spokeswoman. "We wouldn't make anything out of it". See this Washington Post article on Malawi.
But company officials said they had no interest in switching from sugar to corn, which after years of government price controls is seen as unprofitable in Malawi. "To grow maize as a commercial crop, it's not viable," said Irene Phalula, a company spokeswoman. "We wouldn't make anything out of it". See this Washington Post article on Malawi.
This wasn't the point of the article, but I got thinking: hang on a minute, I'm fairly sure that my Fairtrade sugar is from Malawi. I just double-checked a moment ago, and it was. But they don't need nice sugar farming co-ops in Malawi. They need food for the whole population.
They shouldn't be using that water for a cash-crop and I don't care if a portion of workers are making a living wage if nearly 11 millions struggle without jobs and without irrigation for their subsistence plots because the World Bank and IMF won't allow state-led development. Fairtrade is just a stupid cosmetic solution to make stupid westerners feel good.
1 comment:
Agreed.
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