E. Timor Government Taking Heat For Turning Over 1/6+ Of Nation's Arable Land To Ethanol Farm - AFP

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East Timor's government is under fire over an agreement to turn more than a sixth of the country's arable land over to a 100 million dollar foreign-funded ethanol project. The Fretilin opposition has branded as a "land giveaway" a memorandum of understanding between the agriculture minister and GTLeste Biotech for a 100,000 hectare (247,000 acre) sugar plantation and ethanol plant.

The agreement with the little-known Indonesian company guarantees at least 100 million dollars in investment in return for granting GTLeste a 50-year lease over a swathe of "unproductive land" with an option for 50 years more. The government is touting the move as a major potential source of foreign cash which could generate more than 2,000 jobs.

But opposition agriculture spokesman Estanislau da Silva told AFP the plan was made with little public consultation and could threaten food production in the impoverished and overwhelmingly agrarian country. "They say they are going to plant sugarcane on unproductive land. Where in the world can you plant sugarcane on unproductive land?" Da Silva said.

"The intention itself is very suspicious and goes against what we are doing in terms of development and increasing food production and food reliance," he said. "Two thousand jobs means nothing to me when you give away 100,000 hectares."

EDIT

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Massive_East_Timor_Land_For_Biofuel_Plan_Raises_Hackles_999.html