new partners on the nile
TRANSCRIPT
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
