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Why Poverty?: Land Rush

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Why Poverty? Land Rush

15/12/2012 GMT

Land Rush

Why Poverty?

BBC World News - Why Poverty?, Land Rush

Farmers struggle against businessmen in a contemporary battle over who controls land.

Land Rush tells the story of a farming community's struggle to save itself from an onslaught of foreign agro-investors in Mali.

This film tells the story of a farming community's struggle to save itself from an onslaught of �land-grabbing� foreign agro-investors in Mali. From Chinese sugar cane growers to US bio-fuel producers, Mali is awash with foreign agricultural investors working hand-in-hand with the Malian government, who have come in search of big profits and stable food supplies. But peasant leaders Mamadou Goita and Ibrahima Coulibaly are determined to protect the rights of small-scale farmers who stand to lose out in these deals. The film will zero in on a crucial phase in a massive government plan to irrigate and industrialize more than two million hectares of Mali's most fertile ricegrowing land. Co-directed by Hugo Berkeley and Cameroonian, Osvalde Lewat-Hallade, the film will follow characters from the desolation of the rural communities, to fiery debates with ministers of state. We feel their fear, as their objectives and those of their government diverge. Can Goita and Coulibaly, the filmmakers ask, transform rhetoric into action and change the course of a nation.

BBC World News

BBC  World News

A series of films which ask what it means to live in poverty in the 21st Century.

BBC World News will be showing eight unique films made by independent producers from around the world. Each film will highlight different issues and prompt a debate about Why Pover

Why Poverty? is a groundbreaking cross-media event reaching more than 500 million people around the world via television, radio, internet and live events in November 2012. As part of this event, BBC World News will be showing eight unique films made by independent producers from around the world. Each film will highlight different issues and prompt a debate about Why Poverty?

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