[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” admin_label=”Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin_tablet=”||-30px||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”||-80px||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|desktop” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][et_pb_fullwidth_header text_orientation=”center” header_image_url=”https:\/\/reseed.uc.pt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/blog_titulo_3.png” _builder_version=”4.16″ _dynamic_attributes=”link_option_url” background_enable_color=”off” background_image=”https:\/\/reseed.uc.pt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/blog_capapost_4.png” custom_button_one=”on” button_one_text_size=”18px” button_one_text_color=”#ffffff” min_height=”261px” height=”234px” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”63px|16px|0px|0px|false|false” link_option_url=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9saW5rX3VybF9wYWdlIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsicG9zdF9pZCI6IjY1NiJ9fQ==@” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0px||2px|||” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”||34px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_button button_url=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9saW5rX3VybF9wYWdlIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsicG9zdF9pZCI6IjY1NiJ9fQ==@” button_text=”all posts” button_alignment=”left” _builder_version=”4.16″ _dynamic_attributes=”button_url” custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”14px” button_text_color=”#5d7739″ button_border_width=”1px” button_border_radius=”0px” button_icon=”J||divi||400″ button_icon_placement=”left” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0|0px|42px|0px|false|false” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”-3px|auto||auto||” custom_padding=”0px|0px|13px|0px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”-1px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”Fira Sans|300|||||||” text_font_size=”15px” header_font=”Fira Sans||||||||” custom_margin=”25px||25px” custom_padding=”|||0px||” link_option_url_new_window=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Driving south through S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9\u2019s national road n. 2 we are welcomed by \u201cthe flourishing palm groves of Agripalma<\/a>\u201d. Oil palms reign supreme over that territory, creating a green pattern of staggering geometric regularity. When the fog lifts, it is possible to see the Pico C\u00e3o Grande<\/em> and what remains of the primary rainforest of the Ob\u00f4 Natural Park. Even if oil palms have been growing in this small island in the Gulf of Guinea for centuries, the development of a palm oil industry is rather recent and a direct response to the world\u2019s voracious appetite for this commodity. Together with the ruins left by the Portuguese empire, palm groves might be considered the most daunting legacy of colonialism<\/a>.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”3873″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ title_level=”h5″ title_font=”||||||||” pagination_font=”||||||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”12px” custom_margin=”-8px|||||” custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n A fragment of S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 oil pam plantations facing Pico C\u00e3o Grande.<\/strong> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”Fira Sans|300|||||||” text_font_size=”15px” header_font=”Fira Sans||||||||” custom_margin=”25px||25px” custom_padding=”||19px|0px||” link_option_url_new_window=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The roots of Agripalma lie deep in the past. The origin of the Belgian holding that owns Agripalma \u2013 Socfin (Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Financi\u00e8re des Caoutchoucs) \u2013 dates back to 1909 in Congo. From colonial Congo, Socfin expanded to become a global enterprise. Producing rubber, palm oil and coffee in Africa and Southeast Asia, it survived the decolonization and nationalization processes of the 1950s and 1960s and, with the support of supranational organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, it kept profiting from business with new sovereign states. In the last decades, Socfin has earned an impressive record of alleged abuses and malpractices: from irregularities in land acquisitions to poor working conditions, from disrespect for local communities to environmental crimes.<\/p>\n In the history of S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9, Agripalma is just the last chapter of an extended story of exploitation of both people and nature. The island is a perfect space to examine the materiality of imperialism, capitalism and racism in the longue dur\u00e9e<\/em>. Over the last 500 years its trajectory was shaped by different plants \u2013 sugarcanes<\/a>, coffee<\/a> and cocoa trees<\/a> \u2013, by various forms of land dispossession and forced racialized labour regimes, and by a specific production system \u2013 the plantation. Such agro-industrial complexes aimed at the intensive cultivation of monocrops for export brought waves of ecological destruction and human abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n A transnational process<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cPlantations are back<\/a>\u201d, wrote the anthropologist Tanya Murray Li, about Indonesia’s oil palm plantation zones. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, the palm oil sector is leading what analysts called a global land-grab. As Li pointed out \u201cthe polemical term \u201cgrab\u201d usefully drew attention to what was being taken away: customary land rights, diverse farming systems, and ecological balance.\u201d The emergence of palm oil plantations in S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 is part and parcel of this transnational process.<\/p>\n Agripalma was established in 2009 trading 5000 hectares of land for quick cash, very much like a vulture on a body carcass. Sustaining former dependency relations drawn along racial lines, the company preys on weak states and vulnerable people. Its scavenger-like quality also comes from the fact that Elaeis guineensis<\/em>, from where oil is extracted, can effectively take over dead plantations. Contrary to other crops, it grows successfully in secondary forests<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”3874″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ title_level=”h5″ title_font=”||||||||” pagination_font=”||||||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”12px” custom_margin=”-8px|||||” custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Elaeis guineensis<\/em> in Hermann Adolph K\u00f6hler, K\u00f6hler\u2019s Medizinal-Pflanzen<\/em>, 1887.<\/strong> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.3″ text_font=”Fira Sans|300|||||||” text_font_size=”15px” header_font=”Fira Sans||||||||” custom_margin=”25px||25px” custom_padding=”||19px|0px||” link_option_url_new_window=”on” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n The area occupied by oil palms in S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 seems modest, mostly when compared with the whole 200.000 hectares Socfin \u201cdevelops\u201d around the world, but its local impact is massive. Consuming roughly 10% of agricultural land, the industry employs less than 1% of the island\u2019s labouring population. To make space for Agripalma, the state expropriated land from small and mid-range farmers, without compensation, and turned a blind eye on the occupation of forest areas in the Natural Park\u2019s buffer zone. The biodiversity loss and the threat posed to endangered and unique bird species are yet to be evaluated. S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9\u2019s government also gave Agripalma the monopoly to fabricate palm oil. The local factory<\/a> exported the first 500 tons in December 2019. However, the facilities were designed with more ambitious plans in mind: they are able to process up to 10000 tons of oil per year.<\/p>\n In 2009, Agripalma fought for a land grant in the neighbouring island of Pr\u00edncipe. People in Pr\u00edncipe rebelled against the project, but mainly the project clashed with the initiatives of other private investment groups. The South-African venture capital fund HBD (Here be dragons) is slowly transforming Pr\u00edncipe into one of the world\u2019s most exclusive ecotourism destinations. Because oil palm plantations don\u2019t provide the ideal scenario for such luxury resorts, Agripalma lost this battle.<\/p>\n Oil palm plantations are the reiteration\u00a0of a centuries-old exploitative system of both environments and people. What previous plantation experiences tell us is that these disrupted ecosystems have always created the conditions for their own destruction. It might be possible to anticipate the future of oil palms if we take into consideration the limited commercial lifespan of these trees. After 25 years, as trees become less productive, more difficult to harvest and more prone to pests, they are abandoned.\u00a0Or replanted, at higher cost. Maybe sooner rather than later, oil palms will get to be, like sugarcane, coffee and cocoa trees, things of the past. What can emerge from those <\/span>ruins is an open possibility.<\/span><\/p>\n
Source: Google Maps and Marta Macedo<\/strong><\/p>\n
Source: Wikimedia<\/strong><\/p>\n