Sugar around the world →
Only a fraction of the Sh24 billion sugar project along Tana River that has attracted opposition from the community has been given the go ahead.
The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) clarified yesterday that the scope of the portion it licensed last week does not pose any hazards to the community.
Nema said due process was followed before the licence was given, including public hearings with the locals and civil society groups.
"We came up with a rational decision that takes care of all the concerns raised by the residents and the civil society," said Ms Ruth Musembi, Nema's head of communications.
Yesterday, Ms Musembi said the decision to implement the Tana Integrated Sugar Project (TISP) in 3 phases was part of Nema's response to the locals' concerns. The first phase will be rolled out on a 500 hectares piece of land mostly inhabited by farmers.
The regulator says the residents did not raise any objection about the site because it used to be a rice field, "Nema has assured the local communities that the second and third phase of the project will only be licensed after studying the environmental and economic viability of the first phase," Ms Musembi said.
Fear of losing communal land without any form of compensation has dogged the project with the residents vowing to stop it. They have, with the backing of green activists, asked the government to withdraw the go ahead "to pave way for a transparent; mutually agreed conservation and development agenda that guarantees sustainable living."
They say the pact signed between the giant sugar miller, Mumias, and the Tana River Development Authority (Tarda) for setting up sugar and ethanol production plants did not address the sensitive issue of compensation to the local communities.
The project would see the transformation of over 20,000 hectares of pristine Tana Delta into irrigated sugar plantations.
Business Daily has also learnt that the long standing land dispute dates back to 1995 when the government ceded ownership of the trust land to the regional development authority.
Lobby groups have relied on this discontent to rally the local community against any investors. "Evicting a pastoralist does not necessary mean giving quit orders. The message is equally loud once you block the water and grazing fields," said a former MP from the area.
While Tarda now claims legal ownership of the land in question, the local communities live on the land but hold no title deeds and feel slighted that their consent was not sought for the project.
"The 14 approval conditions ignore environmental impact on people, wildlife and livestock - threatening the future survival of the local pastoralist communities who use the delta as the only dry season refuge," says Paul Matiku, the Nature Kenya Executive Director.
The activists say over 60,000 heads of cattle that graze in the delta during dry seasons and crops such as rice, mangoes, maize, cassavas, bananas, melons, peas and vegetables would be at risk if the Tana Integrated Sugar Project was implemented.
To set up a sugarcane plantation, the delta must first go through a land reclamation phase that will entail drying up the wetland and later relying on irrigation to grow the cane.
In the Environmental Impact Assessment report, Mumias has proposed the use of a third of the river's water for irrigation of the plantation.