Quifel Natural Resources is part of Portugals Quifel Group, a holding company controlled by Portuguese aristocrat, businessman and amateur racing-car driver Miguel Maria de Sá Pais do Amaral, and is involved in multiple sectors, from insurance and real estate to agriculture and energy. Its' first agricultural endeavors were in Brazil, but increasing land prices there pushed the company's attention to Africa. The company acquired large land concessions in coastal East African countries for oilseeds, and West African countries for fruit and vegetables. Quifel currently holds vast tracts of land in Mozambique, Angola, and Sierra Leone. The company's concession in Mozambique is in Lioma, Zambezia Region for 10,000 ha (not the requested 30,000 ha). In two meetings with select citizens (both held on the same day) the company promised grand results of hundreds of jobs, a health clinic, schools, water, electricity, and other benefits if the community approved the project. The contract was provided on the same day as the community meetings, and some did sign; but those farming the lands did not. The project has since created a variety of problems. Quifel did not complete a demarcation within one year (as required), and has continued to ignore all officially mandated time table benchmarks. As of January 2013 the required boundary posts were still absent. Additionally, only 400 ha of the concession has yet been planted, and the company has stated it does not intend to utilize the remainder of their lands (for their own crops nor the out grower scheme promised). Yet of those 400 ha hurriedly plowed and seeded before inspection many were already planted by local farmers, and some just ready for harvest. The first planting definitively displaced at least 200 families. Finally, in July of 2012 a GPS survey was conducted on the 3500 ha to be used in the coming season, in which 836 farmers with 1945 ha were within the boundaries. The farmers were not to be moved until after the resettlement land was cleared, but it seemed unlikely the land would be ready for the December planting season. The health clinic, jobs, and other promises never materialized. According to an Oakland Institute report the project has already run into a serious conflict with local communities and it is often used as an example of conflicts between large corporations and local populations. After an assesemnt requested by the citizens of Lioma, the Gurue District Administrator has called for an 'urgent intervention' to stop additional breach of agreements by Quifel. |