In the late 2000s, global food price volatility prompted Gulf countries to seek secure agricultural breadbaskets abroad to shield their populations from future supply shocks. Under this global rush for land, the Federal Government of Ethiopia positioned itself as a primary destination by establishing a centralised “federal land bank.” This strategy placed hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile, indigenous land at the disposal of corporate foreign investors under the promise of rapid national development.
Promoted as a crown jewel of the King Abdullah Initiative for Saudi Agricultural Investment Abroad, Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc acquired a massive land portfolio spanning 14,020 hectares across the Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz regions. The venture, backed by Saudi-Ethiopian billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Al-Amoudi, promised to inject $2.5 billion to $3 billion in foreign direct investment. Corporate blueprints outlined a modern agricultural powerhouse featuring advanced machinery, thousands of secure jobs, and an annual yield of 1 million tons of export-grade rice.
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However, an on-the-ground investigation reveals that after more than 15 years, the reality in these peripheral frontier regions stands in stark, devastating contrast to those initial corporate pledges. Paralysed by environmental miscalculations, operational mismanagement, and a regulatory vacuum, Saudi Star has left the majority of its conceded fields completely idle. Millions of dollars of highly engineered infrastructure now sit rusting in the open air, while indigenous communities suffer the dual burden of ancestral displacement and heightened food insecurity.
The core operational strategy of the mega-farm relied heavily on expanding a Soviet-era canal network to divert 22 cubic metres of water per second from the Abobo reservoir dam along the Alwero River. While Saudi Star successfully cleared sections of the land and constructed roughly 35 kilometres of secondary irrigation channels, large portions of this multi-million-dollar network now sit dry or entirely abandoned. Local agricultural experts note that engineering flaws and inconsistent maintenance have rendered the irrigation system functionally useless during critical periods of the crop cycle.
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Also, the firm’s leadership recently admitted to fundamental, systemic errors in their baseline environmental and feasibility studies during evaluations. The company conceded that its initial agricultural models ignored the complex, localised ecological realities of the Gambella basin. These blind spots led to severe seasonal challenges that the farm was unprepared to handle or mitigate.
Specifically, unexpected moisture shortages during the critical “milking stage” of the rice plants consistently stunted crop growth and decimated projected volume yields. Furthermore, erratic, unseasonal rainfall patterns routinely disrupted mechanised harvesting schedules, leaving mature crops to rot in the mud before heavy machinery could access the waterlogged fields. Compounding these climate variables, massive swarms of migrating birds regularly descended on the open fields during the dry season, consuming what little harvest remained.
“The decline in performance occurred because the initial study and investment for the rice project underestimated environmental challenges,” acknowledged Jemal Ahmed, chief executive officer of the MIDROC Investment Group, which owns Saudi Star, during an institutional review. “During the crop’s milking stage, moisture shortages affected growth, while erratic rains turned harvesting into a challenge, and in the dry season, swarms of migrating birds threatened production.”
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This corporate admission highlights a deeper institutional failure: the uncritical acceptance of investor-led impact assessments by federal regulators.
The human cost of these operational failures is borne directly by the indigenous Anuak and Nuer agrarian populations, who were systematically relocated from their ancestral lands to clear the way for the corporate concession. Promises of localised wealth, paved roads, and modern schools have failed to materialise, leaving displaced communities separated from their primary means of survival. Local elders state that the sweeping clearance of natural forests and the construction of dry canals have permanently disrupted local ecosystems and traditional cattle-grazing pathways.
“When the regional officials arrived with the company representatives, they told us that our ancestral forests and access to the Alwero River were being reallocated for national development,” recalled a local elder and community representative from the Abobo Wereda. “Fifteen years later, we are locked out of our own lands by fences, and the canal they dug has drained our natural wetlands, leaving our cattle without water. We have received no fair compensation, and our children are going hungry while looking at fields that sit empty.”
For the local residents who did manage to secure employment within the agricultural enclave, the reality of corporate labour proved highly exploitative and dangerous. Workplace asset registers and internal records reviewed during this investigation indicate a staggering 36.7 per cent rate of occupational injuries among field labourers. These high injury rates are directly tied to a lack of safety oversight, with data showing that 83.75 per cent of monitored field workers operated completely without personal protective equipment (PPE).
Furthermore, the employment structure of Saudi Star reveals a reliance on short-term casual contracts that offer no long-term financial security or health coverage for the local workforce. Over 92 per cent of the local staff were hired as temporary day labourers, earning less than 1,600 ETB ($9.8) per month despite performing hazardous manual tasks under intense heat. Meanwhile, high-paying technical positions, mechanical operations, and managerial roles were almost exclusively reserved for foreign technicians brought in from India and Pakistan.
“The company treated local workers as disposable labour, forcing us to clear dense vegetation and work in muddy irrigation canals without safety boots, gloves, or any protective equipment,” said a former mechanical operator who worked at Saudi Star’s Alwero site. “If someone was injured by machinery, they could be dismissed without medical support or compensation.”
Former workers interviewed for this investigation said casual labourers were paid less than 50 ETB a day during peak agricultural seasons. At the time, the amount was barely enough to cover basic daily meals for a family, let alone housing, healthcare, or education expenses. Workers argued that the wages were disproportionately low given the physically demanding and hazardous nature of the work. “When we tried to raise concerns about safety conditions and wages, management viewed it as a problem rather than a legitimate complaint,” the former operator recalled. “Many people felt they had no choice but to remain silent because jobs were scarce.”
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Labour advocates and local residents say such practices contributed to a sense of economic marginalisation among communities that had expected the multi-billion-Birr project to create sustainable employment and improve living standards.
This deep-seated community resentment and economic marginalisation have historically boiled over into intense security flashpoints within the region. In 2012, a high-intensity localised clash at the company’s main compound resulted in multiple fatalities, underscoring the volatile nature of establishing closed corporate enclaves amidst displaced, impoverished populations. Despite these warnings, successive federal administrations continued to prioritise investor protection over local community integration and corporate accountability.
Frustrated by over a decade of unfulfilled promises and economic stagnation, regional authorities recently shifted from accommodating investors to demanding immediate accountability. During the Invest in Ethiopia High-Level Business Reform summit, regional investment officials openly criticised the Saudi Star project’s slow progress and lack of output. Authorities emphasised that letting prime agricultural land sit idle while the country faces broader economic pressures is no longer politically or socially acceptable.
“You have made a significant investment in constructing the machinery and irrigation channels for rice production, but the project’s pace has not matched initial expectations despite its status as a flagship commercial rice initiative,” stated Lou Opiew, commissioner of the Gambella Regional State Investment Commission, during a direct confrontation with corporate management. “The region has a dam with more than enough investment potential, capable of irrigating 10,000 hectares of land, and we cannot afford to let it go underutilised.”
Agricultural policy experts interviewed for this investigation argue that the Ministry of Agriculture should strengthen oversight of large-scale agricultural investments by linking land leases to measurable performance benchmarks. They recommend periodic reviews of land utilisation, production targets, and job creation commitments, as well as independent environmental and social impact assessments to ensure that affected communities are fairly compensated and that future investments contribute to both local livelihoods and national food security.
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