Liberia's Plantation Blues


The future activities of Kuala Lumpur-based Sime Darby, one of the most prominent in a club of new, high-profile investors committed to long-term projects in Liberia, are meant to bring Liberia billions of dollars in revenue and some 35,000 jobs, leading the way in regenerating an oil palm sector that has been neglected for years. But the company's presence has, for now, generated considerable friction and frustration amongst local communities.


  • Liberia:  The Plantation Blues

    allAfrica.com, 29 February 2012

    Fiercely contested during different stages of Liberia's civil war, the western region of Grand Cape Mount County now plays host to a very different kind of confrontation. read more »

Photo Essay

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    Plantation Blues in Liberia, February 2012

    Picture 1 of 11

    A woman and her daughter search for firewood in a place that once was once forest and farmland. Liberia's western region of Grand Cape Mount County was fiercely contested during the country's civil ... see more »

  • Liberia:  Green Advocates Reacts

    The New Dawn, 17 February 2012

    Green Advocates International, an environmental group has disassociated itself from last weekend's talks held with the locals in Gonda Town, Grand Cape Mount County by the ... read more »

  • Liberia:  Land Grab or Development Opportunity?

    UN Integrated Regional Information Networks, 17 February 2012

    Hundreds of villagers and town residents of Liberia's Grand Cape Mount Country have attracted nationwide attention in their bid to recover what they say is land seized from them ... read more »

  • Liberia:  False And Inaccurate -Sime Darby Describes RRI's Report

    The Analyst, 17 February 2012

    The Management of the Sime Darby Company has termed as false and inaccurate, recent media reports attributed to the Rights and Resources Initiative group on the company's ... read more »

  • Africa:  Weak Land Rights Promote Land Rush

    Daily Trust, 2 February 2012

    The customary rights of millions of poor people who have lived on and worked in forest would continue to be trampled upon unless national leaders and investors have a change of ... read more »

  • Liberia:  Sime Darby to Provide Over 35,000 Employment

    Heritage, 30 December 2011

    When the Chairman of the board of Sime Darby, the Right Honorable Tun Musa Hitam came to Liberia in April this year during the planting of the first oil palm plant in Liberia by ... read more »

  • Africa:  Palm Oil Fuels Land Grabs in Africa

    Fahamu, 15 September 2011

    By next year 'palm oil is forecast to be the world's most produced and internationally traded edible oil.' But as foreign investors descend on Africa to develop large-scale palm ... read more »

  • Liberia:  Resources, Post-Conflict Recovery Draw Global Investment

    allAfrica.com, 12 July 2010

    In the latest of several major investment deals, the Liberian government has signed an estimated U.S.$3 billion agreement with Australian mining giant BHP Billiton. read more »