Why farmers remain sceptical about the spekboom restoration initiative in the Eastern Cape

FARMERS are not yet falling over one another to participate in the Eastern Cape's much-vaunted spekboom restoration initiative.

- ROELOF BEZUIDENHOUT

Some fear the 800 000-hectare project, which hopes to create 100 000 rural jobs and is being sold as a UNEP World Restoration Flagship, could be another ride on the carbon credits bandwagon.

Reasons for the reluctance include what one lawyer describes as one-sided contracts that don't protect farmers from the fine-print and are not financially attractive enough.

The numeration is based on hiring land from the landowner at a basic rate to plant and manage spekboom plantations in choice spots (only), but the capital value of the land which is the livestock farmer's main asset is ignored.

Signing the contracts would tie them up and diminish the marketability and loan value of the properties for up to six decades.

Add the uncertainty about the carbon credit market and the lifespan of the companies running the projects, and farmers could be making a giant leap into the unknown. There's no guarantee that they will eventually (after at least five years) receive worthwhile carbon credits.

Already there are signs that the concept of carbon offsets is losing ground to the idea that it doesn't reduce carbon output at source. A coal mine in the northern hemisphere can offset the carbon dioxide it spews into the atmosphere simply by paying someone in the southern hemisphere to capture the gas by planting some trees.