Resource information
In 2005 the Government, aiming to encourage more intensive forms of agriculture to supply new markets, passed a land law which brought all marshes and river valleys under State control. In 1997 the State leased 3,100 hectares of land in the Nyacyonga and Nyabarongo marshes outside the capital Kigali to a Ugandan-based enterprise, the Madhvani Group, which also acquired control over the country’s sole sugar mill. Most of the local people who had previously exploited the marshland experienced its takeover by the company as a dispossession. Around 1,100 farmers remain as outgrowers; most cultivate less than one hectare each. Many local people, especially women, have become labourers, working either for Madhvani or for the outgrowers. A small portion of the local population has benefited, but the majority feel impoverished. This study indicates that if a local population is largely dependent on an incoming investor for securing their livelihoods, but they have few enforceable rights to bargain with, the chances that they will benefit from the investment are reduced.
