photo by Mat McDermott (Flickr CC)

Tanzanian villagers were promised much-needed infrastructure, water security, money, education and health benefits from UK Biofuel firm Sun Biofuels in return for their land.

1,000 inhabitants of Kisarawe villages in Tanzania gave up thousands of hectares of land in order that Sun Biofuels could grow jatropha, a biofuel plant.

But Sun Biofuels did not follow through. The villagers have instead suffered health and safety violations, poor salaries, followed by redundancy and no improvements in infrastructure or water security. In fact, things have gotten much worse.

From a press release by Greenstream TV:

On top of all these unfulfilled pledges, the local community has been denied access to the lands on which their ancestral burial grounds are located, as well as water sources. Nowadays, the people have to walk for hours to get their water supply. As they had signed over their properties, they were aware that their income would drop as they could no longer get firewood and charcoal from the lands. Their agreement with Sun Biofuels however would have compensated for the loss and allow children to continue their schooling.

See the following video from Actionaid and check out the Guardian’s special investigative report for more on the story. Also, please sign the Actionaid petition to stop the biofuels land grab in poor countries.