Mark Brown & Wes Haws

Alyssa Farm Land Clearing

The property leased to Morrell Agro Industries in Beltu was uncultivated and harsh, and land clearing on the farm was a challenge, to say the least. Mark Brown and Wes Haws had to begin the process by experimenting with different methods of clearing.

Manual labor was the first implemented method of land clearing used on the Alyssa farm. Local Ethiopian workers were paid by the hour, by the day, to pull out weeds, hard bushes, and trees. Three weeks went by, and only 60 hectares had been cleared. It was then determined that this was not the most effective method to clear the entire 10,000 hectare farm in a timely manner.

So, MAI hired InfoMind, a human resource management company in Ethiopia, to assist in the hiring of local people to work the farm. When large numbers of workers had to be hired quickly, the knowledge and resources of InfoMind became invaluable. This company managed the hiring, paying, management, and firing of staff on the farm in Beltu.

It was also determined that workers on the farm should be paid on a per-hectare basis, rather than by the hour. Land clearing on the farm began to progress much quicker. In one week, six to seven thousand hectares could be cleared.

Brush Piled by Hand

MAI employees also had to decide what to do with the brush once it was out of the ground – whether to windrow it or create piles. Windrowing is the method in which debris is piled in long straight rows, which could then be pushed with a dozer into large piles. Looking back, this method may have been more constructive, but, at the time, it was decided to create small brush piles. It has been a constant learning process, working and preparing the ground in Beltu for planting; it is an environment different from any that MAI employees have worked in before.

Clearing the land by hand labor did work out quite well, though. Groups of workers were organized to clear the land in sections. Some groups of workers cleared the land very well, and others didn’t, so they were paid on a performance scale. MAI employees would inspect the work that the workers had done and rate it “Great Job”, “Okay Job”, or “Average Job”.

When MAI, with the help of InfoMind, started contracting the land clearing effort out in a per-hectare basis, they allowed the local communities to form their own teams. They were no longer hiring individuals, but rather sub-contractors. The communities would form groups of ten to fifteen people, and they would contract to clear a specified amount of hectares.

Once the community teams were organized, MAI would send the groups out to a set area to clear the ground. Quality assurance employees would evaluate whether or not the clearing was done up to standard, and they would sign off on the land parcel before the workers could be paid.

Some groups to a large extent worked really hard, cleared a lot of acreage, and kept the quality up. Other groups didn’t do as well, but each group was paid for the work that they accomplished.

This is the fundamentals of capitalism at work, and it has been going remarkably well, like capitalism does when it is functioning correctly.

Conflicts

The main conflict that arose while working on the land clearing at the Alyssa farm came from the local farmers in the area. MAI would pay the local Ethiopians to clear their own farm land, which they would, but the people would then fight with MAI employees about moving off of the property. They wouldn’t let the land be plowed and planted, even though MAI had leased the land from the Ethiopian government.

This conflict arose because the government had not yet compensated them for their property, and they did not want to move off without that compensation. Some people also wanted to use the cleared land as a place to graze their livestock.

Building Infrastructure and Farm Conditions

When Mark Brown first arrived in Beltu, Ethiopia to work on the Morrell Agro Alyssa farm, there was no place for him, or any of the other farm workers to stay on the property. For awhile, the MAI employees working in the area lived in the town of Beltu and drove into the farm every day.

Currently, three houses have been built on the property. Two are functioning with showers and toilets, which are simple conveniences that make life easier on the farm. Dormitory housing is also being built for the workers on the farm.

A 183 meter pipe well was also dug on the farm, to provide MAI employees and farm workers with fresh, clean drinking water.

Most of the food eaten by the employees at the Alyssa farm is either locally produced, or shipped in from Addis Ababa. They consume a lot of goat, pasta, and camel milk. A small restaurant was also contracted to be right on the farm property, where the MAI employees can purchase the local tibs, or any of the three or four other food items that they prepare.

Next Clearing Effort

Land is continuing to be cleared on the Alyssa farm, so that more acreage can be prepared for the next planting season. MAI employees are working to get all of the farm workers together and organized so that individuals and groups aren’t all over the place. At times, when clearing first started on the farm, stretches of land two miles long and only 100 feet wide would be cleared.

Some groups of people wanted to work really hard, they and got a lot of land cleared. Other groups weren’t as hard working. So, patches of cleared land were scattered here and there.

The plan going forward is to square off a specified amount of hectares, say 100 hectare parcels, where people can stay in their own groups and work. Hopefully, things will not be as hectic in the future. The goal is to mark off certain amounts of hectares, as well as the farm boundaries, and to get the entire property cleared.

Going forward, MAI will also try to reduce the labor used on the farm, leaning more towards machinery to clear the land. The same volume of farm workers will not have to be utilized in the future. MAI employees have identified the process that is most cost effective in land clearing – the first pass will be made by hand labor and the second pass will be made with machinery.

Next Planting Seasons

MAI’s goal for the second season crop on the Alyssa farm is to plant the same hectares, as were planted in the first season, by the end of September when the second rainy season of the year begins. An additional 800 hectares have been cleared, and they will need to be plowed and prepared to be seeded, as well. The plan is to plant a total of 2,000 hectares in September of this year on the Alyssa farm.

By March or April of 2011, an additional 2,000 hectares should be cleared, if the land clearing progress continues at the same pace, making a total of 4,000 hectares available to be planted.