Following recent media attention surrounding Ethiopia’s developmental plan, protests over a bid by the government to expand the capital into nearby farms, and land grabs, Financial Times reports on its investigation in Gambella, south of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and the struggle playing out between the indigenous population and investors betting on abundant and fiercely contested land.
As an orchestra of mosquitoes and crickets greeted the dusk, Bedlu Abera looked out over fields of rice stretching across the Ethiopian lowlands towards the horizon. A flicker of contentment crossed his face. “It’s satisfying,” he said. “We are making progress.”
Mr Bedlu was overseeing Saudi Star Agricultural Development’s first substantial harvest. Every few minutes he answered a crackling query on his walkie-talkie. There was urgency to his farmhands’ work. The land here is almost too fertile. It must be cleared and planted again swiftly, before the rains return.