new partners on the nile

New 'partners' on the Nile: you have access to my land&water if you provide me

with your investment&political support

Ana Elisa CascãoHydro-Hegemony Workshop 5London, 8-9 May 2010

My land & water...

Saudi Star Plc (Saudi Arabia)• 10,000ha (expected expansion)• Rice• 60-year lease

Karuturi Global Ltd (India)• 40,000ha (of a total of 300,000ha)• Sugar and rice• 50-year lease

Land: 15 birr per hectare (approx. 73p)Water: ???

GAMBELLA REGION, WESTERN ETHIOPIA

Your ‘investment’...

Why the Nile region?• Fertile, cheap and ‘virgin’ land• Water availability

Offer: land+water+[labour]

• Poorly developed agriculture (mainly irrigation)• Low agriculture investment

Demand: financial + technical capital

• Big market of 140/300 million people• Increasing political and economic stability

• Huge potential for infrastructures• Other resources (oil, minerals, etc)

Trade-off... between equals?

Asymmetric power relations...... but meanwhile

Benefits

Your political support...

... and its Impacts in the Nile hydropolitics

Thanks for your attention!

ana.cascao@siwi.org