Sierra Club lobbies Agrisol's $100m Tanzanian land purchase deal

In Washington, the Sierra Club has been lobbying against Agrisol’s $100 million purchase of 325,000 hectares of land in Tanzania on the basis of human rights violations. The purchase, which opponents claim would displace up to 160,000 refugees from Burundi, will “help stabilize local food supplies, create jobs and economic opportunity for local populations, and spur investment in local infrastructure improvements,” says Agrisol. While the company denies that crops will be used for biofuel production, it also indicates that “as crop production increases over time, excess crops that are not needed for valued-added food products could become available for other uses.”

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