• Armed guards protect a storage in the middle of the developing corn farm of Indian investor Karuturi LTD in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela. The worlds largest rose grower leased 100,000 hectares to grow food and energy crops in the remote region Gambela, an out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. If Karuturi was able to develop the initial 100,000 hectares, he had been promised a further 200,000 hectares by the Ethiopian government. 300,000 hectare, 740,000 acres, 3,000 square kilometers–a farm roughly the size of Luxembourg. On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem is being reshaped. To make way for the investors, parts of the Gambella National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. The marshes are drained. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area was designed to be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. The massive investments and extensive surfaces affect life in the entire region. Critics have already suggested Gambella should be renamed Karuturistan. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambella region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #anthropocene #slowviolence
    Armed guards protect a storage in the middle of the developing corn farm of Indian investor Karuturi LTD in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela. The worlds largest rose grower leased 100,000 hectares to grow food and energy crops in the remote region Gambela, an out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. If Karuturi was able to develop the initial 100,000 hectares, he had been promised a further 200,000 hectares by the Ethiopian government. 300,000 hectare, 740,000 acres, 3,000 square kilometers–a farm roughly the size of Luxembourg. On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem is being reshaped. To make way for the investors, parts of the Gambella National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. The marshes are drained. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area was designed to be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. The massive investments and extensive surfaces affect life in the entire region. Critics have already suggested Gambella should be renamed Karuturistan. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambella region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #anthropocene #slowviolence
  • The Baro River is the lifeline of the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Settlements of the region’s indigenous Anuak and Nuer people lay along its shores that are mainly used during the dry season, when the river runs low. During the rainy season though, the Baro becomes an un-calculable force and most people move away to settlements further inland. While the river has a very low flow during the dry season, during the rainy season, between June and October, it alone contributes about 10% of the Nile's water at Aswan, Egypt. When the Indian land investor, Karuturi LTD, started lining the river with pumps to irrigate their crops and berms to protect it’s fields from floods, the company changed the hydrology of the region. As a result, the indigenous population claims to have suffered from water shortages and floods. But the river had it’s own agenda. The Indian company, not used to the hydrology of the region and too arrogant to listen to the indigenous warnings was shocked, when the flooding of the Baro river destroyed 50,000 tonnes of maize in 2011 and again flooded the fields in 2012. The stock price of Karuturi LTD tanked sharply and never recovered. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #hydrology #dam #anthropocene #slowviolence
    The Baro River is the lifeline of the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Settlements of the region’s indigenous Anuak and Nuer people lay along its shores that are mainly used during the dry season, when the river runs low. During the rainy season though, the Baro becomes an un-calculable force and most people move away to settlements further inland. While the river has a very low flow during the dry season, during the rainy season, between June and October, it alone contributes about 10% of the Nile's water at Aswan, Egypt. When the Indian land investor, Karuturi LTD, started lining the river with pumps to irrigate their crops and berms to protect it’s fields from floods, the company changed the hydrology of the region. As a result, the indigenous population claims to have suffered from water shortages and floods. But the river had it’s own agenda. The Indian company, not used to the hydrology of the region and too arrogant to listen to the indigenous warnings was shocked, when the flooding of the Baro river destroyed 50,000 tonnes of maize in 2011 and again flooded the fields in 2012. The stock price of Karuturi LTD tanked sharply and never recovered. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #hydrology #dam #anthropocene #slowviolence
  • Local Anuak women from the village of Ilia were hired by Indian land investor Karuturi LTD to work in the companies oil palm nursery. When the investor first started building his camp next to the village of Ilia, they promised good paying jobs, education for the children, a well and a generator, and also to help the indigenous population to plow their land. When we visited in 2011 nearly none of the promises had been realized. As the people of the region are mostly used to millennial farming techniques and lack mechanical knowledge the modern farm equipment of the investor requires, the people of Ilia were given only the most basic and worst paying jobs. The women were complaining about the meager pay of 80 US cents per day, while the Indians complained about the laziness of the local workers. They claimed that for every worker from the Ethiopian highland or an Indian farmer you had to hire four or five Anuaks to do the work. With these vastly different expectations conflicts between the new neighbors soon emerged. Karuturi, like many of the investors in the region, didn't care for local traditions and customary usage of land but started clearcutting the land, destroying land that was traditionally used for grazing, hunting, the production of honey and gras. While a lot of their traditional livelihood was destroyed not even the well paying jobs that had been promised emerged. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #deforestation #anthropocene #slowviolence #socialdocumentary
    Local Anuak women from the village of Ilia were hired by Indian land investor Karuturi LTD to work in the companies oil palm nursery. When the investor first started building his camp next to the village of Ilia, they promised good paying jobs, education for the children, a well and a generator, and also to help the indigenous population to plow their land. When we visited in 2011 nearly none of the promises had been realized. As the people of the region are mostly used to millennial farming techniques and lack mechanical knowledge the modern farm equipment of the investor requires, the people of Ilia were given only the most basic and worst paying jobs. The women were complaining about the meager pay of 80 US cents per day, while the Indians complained about the laziness of the local workers. They claimed that for every worker from the Ethiopian highland or an Indian farmer you had to hire four or five Anuaks to do the work. With these vastly different expectations conflicts between the new neighbors soon emerged. Karuturi, like many of the investors in the region, didn't care for local traditions and customary usage of land but started clearcutting the land, destroying land that was traditionally used for grazing, hunting, the production of honey and gras. While a lot of their traditional livelihood was destroyed not even the well paying jobs that had been promised emerged. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #deforestation #anthropocene #slowviolence #socialdocumentary
  • To realize their ambitious plans to build one of Africa’s largest farms early on the Indian Karuturi LTD established it’s own brick factory to produce building material. When we interviewed the companies CEO, Ram Karuturi in 2011, he envisioned to build “the most modern farm in the world” for 50,000 workers. Karuturi also saw schools, hospitals, cinemas, entire cities sprouting out of the ground. He believed that his company would positively impact the region for generations to come, and promised to bring development, infrastructure, job opportunities and food security not only to the out of the way province of Gambella, but also to the country and the whole Horn of Africa region. With nearly religious vigor they went to work, clearing thousands of acres of land. They brought the most modern GPS guided harvesting machines to this „underdeveloped“ frontier region, long before the first field was even plowed, before the first seed was planted, before any crop had grown. This over optimistic approach saw the land as nothing more than a plan-able canvas for the investor’s wild dreams. When nature proved equipped with an agenda of its own it brought the company – at the time the world’s largest grower of cut roses – to its knees: In 2011, a flash flood from the Baro and Alwero rivers destroyed Karuturi’s first potential harvest of 60,000 metric tons of corn from about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land. It also flooded test fields of cotton and nearly inundated the sugar cane nursery. Karuturi learned the hard way that eighty percent of their concession was on a flood plain with a challenging hydrology and little available data of past flooding and rainfall. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #deforestation #anthropocene #slowviolence #foodsecurity
    To realize their ambitious plans to build one of Africa’s largest farms early on the Indian Karuturi LTD established it’s own brick factory to produce building material. When we interviewed the companies CEO, Ram Karuturi in 2011, he envisioned to build “the most modern farm in the world” for 50,000 workers. Karuturi also saw schools, hospitals, cinemas, entire cities sprouting out of the ground. He believed that his company would positively impact the region for generations to come, and promised to bring development, infrastructure, job opportunities and food security not only to the out of the way province of Gambella, but also to the country and the whole Horn of Africa region. With nearly religious vigor they went to work, clearing thousands of acres of land. They brought the most modern GPS guided harvesting machines to this „underdeveloped“ frontier region, long before the first field was even plowed, before the first seed was planted, before any crop had grown. This over optimistic approach saw the land as nothing more than a plan-able canvas for the investor’s wild dreams. When nature proved equipped with an agenda of its own it brought the company – at the time the world’s largest grower of cut roses – to its knees: In 2011, a flash flood from the Baro and Alwero rivers destroyed Karuturi’s first potential harvest of 60,000 metric tons of corn from about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land. It also flooded test fields of cotton and nearly inundated the sugar cane nursery. Karuturi learned the hard way that eighty percent of their concession was on a flood plain with a challenging hydrology and little available data of past flooding and rainfall. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #deforestation #anthropocene #slowviolence #foodsecurity
  • Workers from the local Anuak tribe plant sugarcane on a newly prepared field on the Karuturi farm in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela. As a first step in the development of his mega farm Indian investor Karuturi LTD planed to establish a sugar cane plantation of 15,000 hectares, including a refinery. The companies CEO Ram Karuturi envisioned refining sugar in a plant on the farm and selling it within Ethiopia as well as South Sudan, just a 100 Kilometer to the west. There is a large demand for refined sugar in both countries, each importing large quantities through the harbor of Djibouti. But the ambitious plans where soon derailed: In 2011, a flash flood from the Baro and Alwero rivers destroyed Karuturi’s first potential harvest of 60,000 metric tons of corn from about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land. It also flooded test fields of cotton and nearly inundated the sugar cane nursery. The company said in a statement the loss was estimated at $15 million. This event set back the ambitious plans of the Indian company to establish one of Africa’s largest farms. Karuturi had leased 100,000 hectares of farmland along the Baro River, with the prospect of getting another 200,000 hectares if the first patch of land could be developed. The company grabbed the opportunity of getting the farm lease for an insanely low amount of money after studying maps and data provided by the Ethiopian government, and without even visiting the land before signing the contract. They soon figured out that eighty percent of their concession was on a flood plain with a challenging hydrology and little available data of past flooding and rainfall. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #deforestation #anthropocene #slowviolence #hydrology #sugarcane
    Workers from the local Anuak tribe plant sugarcane on a newly prepared field on the Karuturi farm in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela. As a first step in the development of his mega farm Indian investor Karuturi LTD planed to establish a sugar cane plantation of 15,000 hectares, including a refinery. The companies CEO Ram Karuturi envisioned refining sugar in a plant on the farm and selling it within Ethiopia as well as South Sudan, just a 100 Kilometer to the west. There is a large demand for refined sugar in both countries, each importing large quantities through the harbor of Djibouti. But the ambitious plans where soon derailed: In 2011, a flash flood from the Baro and Alwero rivers destroyed Karuturi’s first potential harvest of 60,000 metric tons of corn from about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land. It also flooded test fields of cotton and nearly inundated the sugar cane nursery. The company said in a statement the loss was estimated at $15 million. This event set back the ambitious plans of the Indian company to establish one of Africa’s largest farms. Karuturi had leased 100,000 hectares of farmland along the Baro River, with the prospect of getting another 200,000 hectares if the first patch of land could be developed. The company grabbed the opportunity of getting the farm lease for an insanely low amount of money after studying maps and data provided by the Ethiopian government, and without even visiting the land before signing the contract. They soon figured out that eighty percent of their concession was on a flood plain with a challenging hydrology and little available data of past flooding and rainfall. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #deforestation #anthropocene #slowviolence #hydrology #sugarcane
  • On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem was being reshaped. Dams are constructed along the Baro to tame the river. New irrigation channels and reservoirs are built to store the water from the river, which, contrary to preliminary calculations, carries too little water in the dry season. The marshes are drained. The forest is cut. The soil plowed. The massive investments and extensive surfaces affect life in the entire region. Critics have already suggested Gambella should be renamed Karuturistan. To make way for the investors, parts of the Gambella National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area was designed to be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #deforestation #anthropocene #slowviolence
    On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem was being reshaped. Dams are constructed along the Baro to tame the river. New irrigation channels and reservoirs are built to store the water from the river, which, contrary to preliminary calculations, carries too little water in the dry season. The marshes are drained. The forest is cut. The soil plowed. The massive investments and extensive surfaces affect life in the entire region. Critics have already suggested Gambella should be renamed Karuturistan. To make way for the investors, parts of the Gambella National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area was designed to be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #deforestation #anthropocene #slowviolence
  • Driving down the potholed, rippled road that cuts from Gambella town, the capital of the region, west through the Gambelaa National Park towards South Sudan in October 2011 we knew immediately when we did arrive. Along the way we had driven by bushland, grassland and dense forest. We saw a people carrying firewood and big bushels of grass to indigenous homesteads mostly hidden in the forest. Suddenly the trees ended and to the left of us laid a devastated wasteland. Trees and bushes ripped from the ground were scattered across the plain like the mikado game of a giant gone wild. In the distance we saw plumes of smoke from a dozen bulldozers and excavators rising into the air. When we got closer a wicked concert filled the air mixed from the sound of heavy machines at work with that of ripping roots, crushing wood, and an occasional drumbeat when another tree hit the ground. The land was rapidly „developed“, transferred from a diverse ecosystem into the mirage of a great farm. „WEL COME KARUTURI FARM“ read a sign. Ramakrishna Karuturi, a rose producer from India, had secured 100,000 hectares of land in Gambela, an out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. If Karuturi was able to develop the initial 100,000 hectares, he had been promised a further 200,000 hectares by the Ethiopian government. 300,000 hectare, 740,000 acres, 3,000 square kilometers – a farm roughly the size of Luxembourg. On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem was being reshaped. To make way for the investors, parts of the Gambella National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. The marshes are drained. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area was designed to be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007.
    Driving down the potholed, rippled road that cuts from Gambella town, the capital of the region, west through the Gambelaa National Park towards South Sudan in October 2011 we knew immediately when we did arrive. Along the way we had driven by bushland, grassland and dense forest. We saw a people carrying firewood and big bushels of grass to indigenous homesteads mostly hidden in the forest. Suddenly the trees ended and to the left of us laid a devastated wasteland. Trees and bushes ripped from the ground were scattered across the plain like the mikado game of a giant gone wild. In the distance we saw plumes of smoke from a dozen bulldozers and excavators rising into the air. When we got closer a wicked concert filled the air mixed from the sound of heavy machines at work with that of ripping roots, crushing wood, and an occasional drumbeat when another tree hit the ground. The land was rapidly „developed“, transferred from a diverse ecosystem into the mirage of a great farm. „WEL COME KARUTURI FARM“ read a sign. Ramakrishna Karuturi, a rose producer from India, had secured 100,000 hectares of land in Gambela, an out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. If Karuturi was able to develop the initial 100,000 hectares, he had been promised a further 200,000 hectares by the Ethiopian government. 300,000 hectare, 740,000 acres, 3,000 square kilometers – a farm roughly the size of Luxembourg. On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem was being reshaped. To make way for the investors, parts of the Gambella National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. The marshes are drained. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area was designed to be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007.
  • Sometimes an unforeseen situation just changes the whole perception of a situation we thought we understood before. We did our research, read books, articles and scientific studies, interviewed investors, workers, local community leaders, activists, scientist and researchers. Still we didn’t really understand why the local population wasn’t more invested into expanding their farming practice and scope. Then, one day, we were visiting a small Anuak village near the Baro river with a catholic priest. He had been working with the community for years. Among many other aspects of his support he was training people to advance their farming techniques. A group of man was working on a field in the afternoon, but soon started to get tired. A few were sitting down, chatting with each other. The energetic priest urged them to finish up todays task, this one small field that they were preparing. One man, sitting on the dry soil, asked why they should do this. The priest replied with passion that if they finished this field, they could soon plant and would be able to always have food. Without a word the man who had asked raised and walked away. About 15 minutes later he returned carrying two enormous fish he had just caught and said: „Here is food.“ – How do you install a sense of urgency, of laboring today for a possible gain in the future, when nature delivers in abundance? And that is what Gambella does most of the year. Its fertile soil supports plenty of food and fodder, the river is full of fish, the forest full of game and honey. The pastoralist societies, Anuak, Nuer and Murle, have learned to live with this nature and the resources it provides. From the perspective of the central government in Addis Abeba, some twelve hour drive away, this fertile land might seem unused. But for the local communities it is part of a delicate balance of resources that have supported their live here since ages. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007.
    Sometimes an unforeseen situation just changes the whole perception of a situation we thought we understood before. We did our research, read books, articles and scientific studies, interviewed investors, workers, local community leaders, activists, scientist and researchers. Still we didn’t really understand why the local population wasn’t more invested into expanding their farming practice and scope. Then, one day, we were visiting a small Anuak village near the Baro river with a catholic priest. He had been working with the community for years. Among many other aspects of his support he was training people to advance their farming techniques. A group of man was working on a field in the afternoon, but soon started to get tired. A few were sitting down, chatting with each other. The energetic priest urged them to finish up todays task, this one small field that they were preparing. One man, sitting on the dry soil, asked why they should do this. The priest replied with passion that if they finished this field, they could soon plant and would be able to always have food. Without a word the man who had asked raised and walked away. About 15 minutes later he returned carrying two enormous fish he had just caught and said: „Here is food.“ – How do you install a sense of urgency, of laboring today for a possible gain in the future, when nature delivers in abundance? And that is what Gambella does most of the year. Its fertile soil supports plenty of food and fodder, the river is full of fish, the forest full of game and honey. The pastoralist societies, Anuak, Nuer and Murle, have learned to live with this nature and the resources it provides. From the perspective of the central government in Addis Abeba, some twelve hour drive away, this fertile land might seem unused. But for the local communities it is part of a delicate balance of resources that have supported their live here since ages. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007.
  • The Baro River is the lifeline of the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Settlements of the region’s indigenous Anuak and Nuer people lay along its shores that are mainly used during the dry season, when the river runs low. During the rainy season though, the Baro becomes an un-calculable force and most people move away to settlements further inland. While the river has a very low flow during the dry season, during the rainy season, between June and October, it alone contributes about 10% of the Nile's water at Aswan, Egypt. When the Indian land investor, Karuturi LTD, started lining the river with pumps to irrigate their crops and berms to protect it’s fields from floods, the company changed the hydrology of the region. As a result, the indigenous population claims to have suffered from water shortages and floods. But the river had it’s own agenda. The Indian company, not used to the hydrology of the region and too arrogant to listen to the indigenous warnings was shocked, when the flooding of the Baro river destroyed 50,000 tonnes of maize in 2011 and again flooded the fields in 2012. The stock price of Karuturi LTD tanked sharply and never recovered. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #hydrology #anthropocene #slowviolence
    The Baro River is the lifeline of the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Settlements of the region’s indigenous Anuak and Nuer people lay along its shores that are mainly used during the dry season, when the river runs low. During the rainy season though, the Baro becomes an un-calculable force and most people move away to settlements further inland. While the river has a very low flow during the dry season, during the rainy season, between June and October, it alone contributes about 10% of the Nile's water at Aswan, Egypt. When the Indian land investor, Karuturi LTD, started lining the river with pumps to irrigate their crops and berms to protect it’s fields from floods, the company changed the hydrology of the region. As a result, the indigenous population claims to have suffered from water shortages and floods. But the river had it’s own agenda. The Indian company, not used to the hydrology of the region and too arrogant to listen to the indigenous warnings was shocked, when the flooding of the Baro river destroyed 50,000 tonnes of maize in 2011 and again flooded the fields in 2012. The stock price of Karuturi LTD tanked sharply and never recovered. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #hydrology #anthropocene #slowviolence
  • The Baro River is the lifeline of the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Settlements of the region’s indigenous Anuak and Nuer people lay along its shores that are mainly used during the dry season, when the river runs low. During the rainy season though, the Baro becomes an un-calculable force and most people move away to settlements further inland. While the river has a very low flow during the dry season, during the rainy season, between June and October, it alone contributes about 10% of the Nile's water at Aswan, Egypt. When the Indian land investor, Karuturi LTD, started lining the river with pumps to irrigate their crops and berms to protect it’s fields from floods, the company changed the hydrology of the region. As a result, the indigenous population claims to have suffered from water shortages and floods. But the river had it’s own agenda. The Indian company, not used to the hydrology of the region and too arrogant to listen to the indigenous warnings was shocked, when the flooding of the Baro river destroyed 50,000 tonnes of maize in 2011 and again flooded the fields in 2012. The stock price of Karuturi LTD tanked sharply and never recovered. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #hydrology #anthropocene #slowviolence
    The Baro River is the lifeline of the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Settlements of the region’s indigenous Anuak and Nuer people lay along its shores that are mainly used during the dry season, when the river runs low. During the rainy season though, the Baro becomes an un-calculable force and most people move away to settlements further inland. While the river has a very low flow during the dry season, during the rainy season, between June and October, it alone contributes about 10% of the Nile's water at Aswan, Egypt. When the Indian land investor, Karuturi LTD, started lining the river with pumps to irrigate their crops and berms to protect it’s fields from floods, the company changed the hydrology of the region. As a result, the indigenous population claims to have suffered from water shortages and floods. But the river had it’s own agenda. The Indian company, not used to the hydrology of the region and too arrogant to listen to the indigenous warnings was shocked, when the flooding of the Baro river destroyed 50,000 tonnes of maize in 2011 and again flooded the fields in 2012. The stock price of Karuturi LTD tanked sharply and never recovered. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #hydrology #anthropocene #slowviolence
  • We talked with the Ilia village elders about their relations with Karuturi and the problems the new neighbor is causing in their lives. Commercial farmers promised to bring knowhow, technology, jobs and infrastructure to Gambella, one of the Ethiopia’s poorest and most remote regions. By converting uncultivated bush into productive farms, officials believed food security and export revenues would improve in a country dominated by subsistence agriculture. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #anthropocene #slowviolence #postoralism
    We talked with the Ilia village elders about their relations with Karuturi and the problems the new neighbor is causing in their lives. Commercial farmers promised to bring knowhow, technology, jobs and infrastructure to Gambella, one of the Ethiopia’s poorest and most remote regions. By converting uncultivated bush into productive farms, officials believed food security and export revenues would improve in a country dominated by subsistence agriculture. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #anthropocene #slowviolence #postoralism
  • Indian land investor Karuturi LTD has heavily invested in the latest agricultural machinery the global market has to offer. The company shipped in many harvesting machines, costing millions of Dollar, even before the land was cleared and planted. Karuturi just assumed that everything would be working out as planed. When it didn’t this over optimistic planing proved a big mistake that brought the company, at the time the world largest producer of cut roses, down to its knees. In 2011, a flash flood from the Baro and Alwero rivers destroyed Karuturi’s first potential harvest of 60,000 metric tons of corn from about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land. It also flooded test fields of cotton and nearly inundated the sugar cane nursery. The company said in a statement the loss was estimated at $15 million. This event set back the ambitious plans of the Indian company to establish one of Africa’s largest farms. Karuturi had leased 100,000 hectares of farmland along the Baro River in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela, with the prospect of getting another 200,000 hectares if the first patch of land could be developed. The company grabbed the opportunity of getting the farm lease for an insanely low amount of money after studying maps and data provided by the Ethiopian government, and without even visiting the land before signing the contract. Like many international investors Karuturi saw the land as nothing more than a well planed factory, a tool to produce food and fuel, rather than a living ecosystem with its own agenda. They soon figured out that eighty percent of their concession was on a flood plain with a challenging hydrology and little available data of past flooding and rainfall. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #hydrology #anthropocene #slowviolence
    Indian land investor Karuturi LTD has heavily invested in the latest agricultural machinery the global market has to offer. The company shipped in many harvesting machines, costing millions of Dollar, even before the land was cleared and planted. Karuturi just assumed that everything would be working out as planed. When it didn’t this over optimistic planing proved a big mistake that brought the company, at the time the world largest producer of cut roses, down to its knees. In 2011, a flash flood from the Baro and Alwero rivers destroyed Karuturi’s first potential harvest of 60,000 metric tons of corn from about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land. It also flooded test fields of cotton and nearly inundated the sugar cane nursery. The company said in a statement the loss was estimated at $15 million. This event set back the ambitious plans of the Indian company to establish one of Africa’s largest farms. Karuturi had leased 100,000 hectares of farmland along the Baro River in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela, with the prospect of getting another 200,000 hectares if the first patch of land could be developed. The company grabbed the opportunity of getting the farm lease for an insanely low amount of money after studying maps and data provided by the Ethiopian government, and without even visiting the land before signing the contract. Like many international investors Karuturi saw the land as nothing more than a well planed factory, a tool to produce food and fuel, rather than a living ecosystem with its own agenda. They soon figured out that eighty percent of their concession was on a flood plain with a challenging hydrology and little available data of past flooding and rainfall. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #flood #hydrology #anthropocene #slowviolence
  • Indian land investor Karuturi LTD has built the main camp of his farm next to the village of Ilia in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela. The camp is delimitated by fences and guards, with container homes, a petrol station, and hangars for the latest agricultural machinery the global market has to offer. Ram Karuturi, the companies CEO, wants to build “the most modern farm in the world” for 50,000 workers. Soon, he claims, there will be one of Ethiopia’s largest sugar plants, energy production, and well developed roads. He also envisions schools, hospitals, cinemas, entire cities sprouting out of the ground. But that is all a future dream. As the people of the region are mostly used to millennial farming techniques and lack mechanical knowledge that the modern farm equipment of the investor requires, the people of Ilia were given only the most basic and worst paying jobs. Instead Karuturi hired better skilled labor from Ethiopia’s highland and staffed management positions with Indians. The constant influx of people from the overpopulated highlands into Gambela fuels the latent conflict between locals and the “highlanders,” who often look down on the “blacks.” ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #pastoralism #slowviolence
    Indian land investor Karuturi LTD has built the main camp of his farm next to the village of Ilia in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela. The camp is delimitated by fences and guards, with container homes, a petrol station, and hangars for the latest agricultural machinery the global market has to offer. Ram Karuturi, the companies CEO, wants to build “the most modern farm in the world” for 50,000 workers. Soon, he claims, there will be one of Ethiopia’s largest sugar plants, energy production, and well developed roads. He also envisions schools, hospitals, cinemas, entire cities sprouting out of the ground. But that is all a future dream. As the people of the region are mostly used to millennial farming techniques and lack mechanical knowledge that the modern farm equipment of the investor requires, the people of Ilia were given only the most basic and worst paying jobs. Instead Karuturi hired better skilled labor from Ethiopia’s highland and staffed management positions with Indians. The constant influx of people from the overpopulated highlands into Gambela fuels the latent conflict between locals and the “highlanders,” who often look down on the “blacks.” ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #pastoralism #slowviolence
  • Otieno and a friend stand at the remains of his house on his farm not far from the village Ilia. Otieno cultivated this land for thirty years during every rainy season while living in Ilia the rest of the year. An investor burned down his house and destroyed his farm, when Otieno was in Ilia for a visit. Unlike other Nilotic peoples in the Upper Nile, whose economies are based on raising cattle, the Anuak are herdsmen and farmers. Their pastoral traditions depend on large tracts of land that are held collectively, including forests and pastures that support livestock, hunting and gathering. While the land is used according to local customs, it is legally owned as the property of the state. The Ethiopian government plans to lease 42% of land in Gambela to investors. As some of the land isn't used year round or lays fallow to regenerate for a few years the administration had deemed the land unused, underused or empty and offered it to international investors in search of farm land. The Ethiopian government plans to move 45,000 rural households into consolidated communes. It claims that this „villagisation campaign“ would give the population access to schools, clinics and drinking water by relocating them into fixed settlements. Although most of these new villages offer a tube well, a small school and clinic, most people we spoke to didn’t intend to leave there traditional land. They told us that the land where these new villages were located was marginal, less fertile land and too small to sustain the village. Groups like Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Oakland Institute have documented multiple cases where government officials used excessive violence to force communities to leave their customary land, which was later leased to commercial farmers. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantation
    Otieno and a friend stand at the remains of his house on his farm not far from the village Ilia. Otieno cultivated this land for thirty years during every rainy season while living in Ilia the rest of the year. An investor burned down his house and destroyed his farm, when Otieno was in Ilia for a visit. Unlike other Nilotic peoples in the Upper Nile, whose economies are based on raising cattle, the Anuak are herdsmen and farmers. Their pastoral traditions depend on large tracts of land that are held collectively, including forests and pastures that support livestock, hunting and gathering. While the land is used according to local customs, it is legally owned as the property of the state. The Ethiopian government plans to lease 42% of land in Gambela to investors. As some of the land isn't used year round or lays fallow to regenerate for a few years the administration had deemed the land unused, underused or empty and offered it to international investors in search of farm land. The Ethiopian government plans to move 45,000 rural households into consolidated communes. It claims that this „villagisation campaign“ would give the population access to schools, clinics and drinking water by relocating them into fixed settlements. Although most of these new villages offer a tube well, a small school and clinic, most people we spoke to didn’t intend to leave there traditional land. They told us that the land where these new villages were located was marginal, less fertile land and too small to sustain the village. Groups like Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Oakland Institute have documented multiple cases where government officials used excessive violence to force communities to leave their customary land, which was later leased to commercial farmers. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantation
  • Women in the Anuak village of Ilia prepare the traditional beer, an alcoholic drink fermented from sorghum, that is often also prepared from barley, wheat, maize or teff. The people of Ilia suffered badly by the emergence of Indian farm investor Karuturi LTD, who leased 100,000 hectares of land from the Ethiopian government. This lease included large tracts of land traditionally used by the people of Ilia. Karuturi, like many of the investors in the region, didn't care for local traditions and customary usage of land but started clearcutting the land, destroying land that was traditionally used for grazing, hunting, the production of honey and gras. While a lot of their traditional livelihood was destroyed not even the well paying jobs that had been promised emerged. As the people of the region are mostly used to millennial farming techniques and lack mechanical knowledge the modern farm equipment of the investor requires, the people of Ilia were given only the most basic and worst paying jobs. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #pastoralism
    Women in the Anuak village of Ilia prepare the traditional beer, an alcoholic drink fermented from sorghum, that is often also prepared from barley, wheat, maize or teff. The people of Ilia suffered badly by the emergence of Indian farm investor Karuturi LTD, who leased 100,000 hectares of land from the Ethiopian government. This lease included large tracts of land traditionally used by the people of Ilia. Karuturi, like many of the investors in the region, didn't care for local traditions and customary usage of land but started clearcutting the land, destroying land that was traditionally used for grazing, hunting, the production of honey and gras. While a lot of their traditional livelihood was destroyed not even the well paying jobs that had been promised emerged. As the people of the region are mostly used to millennial farming techniques and lack mechanical knowledge the modern farm equipment of the investor requires, the people of Ilia were given only the most basic and worst paying jobs. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #pastoralism
  • The Anuak people of the Gambela region of Ethiopia depend on grass as one of the most important building material. When we visited the village of Ilia, many people told us that they had suffered badly by the emergence of Indian farm investor Karuturi LTD, who leased 100,000 hectares of land from the Ethiopian government. This lease included not only mayor parts of the Gambela National Park – known for the second largest animal migration in Africa after the Serengeti – but also large tracts of land traditionally used by the people of Ilia. Their pastoral traditions depend on large tracts of land that are held collectively, including forests and pastures that support livestock, hunting and gathering. While the land is used according to local customs, it is legally owned as the property of the state. As some of the land isn't used year round or lays fallow to regenerate for a few years the administration had deemed the land unused, underused or empty and offered it to international investors in search of farm land. Karuturi, like many of the investors in the region, didn't care for local traditions and customary usage of land but started clearcutting the land they leased from the government, destroying land that was traditionally used for hunting, the production of honey and harvesting gras. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #pastoralism
    The Anuak people of the Gambela region of Ethiopia depend on grass as one of the most important building material. When we visited the village of Ilia, many people told us that they had suffered badly by the emergence of Indian farm investor Karuturi LTD, who leased 100,000 hectares of land from the Ethiopian government. This lease included not only mayor parts of the Gambela National Park – known for the second largest animal migration in Africa after the Serengeti – but also large tracts of land traditionally used by the people of Ilia. Their pastoral traditions depend on large tracts of land that are held collectively, including forests and pastures that support livestock, hunting and gathering. While the land is used according to local customs, it is legally owned as the property of the state. As some of the land isn't used year round or lays fallow to regenerate for a few years the administration had deemed the land unused, underused or empty and offered it to international investors in search of farm land. Karuturi, like many of the investors in the region, didn't care for local traditions and customary usage of land but started clearcutting the land they leased from the government, destroying land that was traditionally used for hunting, the production of honey and harvesting gras. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #plantationagriculture #pastoralism