Uncle Tom Adlam and Thomas Thistlewood

My grandfather’s younger brother was called Tom Adlam. As far as we know, he is by some distance the most famous Adlam, having been awarded the Victoria Cross (Britain’s highest military honour) in the First World War. His citation reads as follows.

“On 27 September 1916 at Thiepval, France, a portion of a village which had defied capture had to be taken at all costs and Second Lieutenant Adlam rushed from shell-hole to shell-hole under very heavy fire collecting men for a sudden rush. At this stage he was wounded in the leg but in spite of his wound he led the rush, captured the position and killed the occupants. Throughout the day he continued to lead his men and on the following day, although wounded again he still led and encouraged them. His magnificent example and behaviour produced far-reaching results.”

In later life, he was content to be headmaster of a small school in Hampshire and led a modest, quiet life until his death in 1975. Despite the fact that we lived less than 20 miles away, we seldom visited. Indeed, I can only remember meeting Uncle Tom on one occasion when I was 10.

A few years ago, my own father was contacted by another Adlam who was trying hard to assemble a genealogy of the Adlam family. My father was amused by this approach, in particular by his correspondent’s statement that the Adlams appeared to have “emerged from a hole in the ground somewhere near Salisbury about 150 years ago.” He was, I think, quite helpful but appeared to have little interest in family history. For two principal reasons, however, I have recently developed much more interest in the subject.

First, earlier this year I was contacted by Sheneika Adlam, a young Jamaican lady, through Facebook. I had previously known of Adlams in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia and Canada, but I was unaware of Adlams in Jamaica. Second, I have just finished reading "Bury the Chains" by Adam Hochschild. This brilliant book tells the story of the campaign in Britain to abolish slavery. Much of the book describes slavery in the Caribbean, including Jamaica. Among many interesting themes, Hochschild examines the sexual abuse suffered by slave women at the hands of white overseers. He quotes extensively from the journal of one Thomas Thistlewood, whose catalogue of callous abuse is recorded in hideously banal detail. Hochschild speculates that Thistelwood's mission appears to have been aimed at lightening the colour of the entire plantation, such was the quantum of his sexual appetite.

The sad fact is that many slaves - in particular their children - were given (or took) their owner's name. Does the fact that there are Adlams in Jamaica today mean that there were Adlams who were - in one way or another - involved in slavery in the Caribbean? Do the horrors of this worst of trades form part of my own family history? It wouldn't really be surprising: I daresay most people in Britain have some distant family connection with the slave trade, but we all prefer to think of the Uncle Toms rather than the Thomas Thistlewoods of the past.

They may have little interest until they reach the tipping point in their lives when the past becomes more interesting than the future, but, for the sake of my sons and daughter, I want to find out more.

Hybrid Maize and the legacy of George Shull

White maize is by far the most important crop in East & Southern Africa. The grain is palatable; crop yields are high in comparison to alternative grain crops; labour demand is low. Well over 200 million people in sub-Saharan Africa rely on maize as their principal staple crop.

Remarkably, for a crop so critical to food security across half the African continent, maize is a relatively recent introduction. The Portuguese brought it to Africa early in the 16th century, since when it has spread throughout the continent. Its popularity owes much to its productivity : under the right conditions, commercial farmers in Southern Africa have achieved yields in excess of 10 MT/hectare for hybrid maize. Indeed, I remember during one visit to the Mpongwe farms in the Zambian copperbelt, the General Manager, Patrick Tobin, proclaiming his delight that he would soon be eligible to join the “ten tonne” club of Zimbabwean commercial farmers (though I never knew if such a club really existed).

But yields like this are only possible where farmers are using hybrid maize seed. Exactly 100 years ago, an American plant scientist, George Shull, published research into the phenomenon of hybrid vigour in maize (enhanced yields through hybridization). Within 20 years, hybrid seed maize offering significant yield improvements was on sale in the USA, and the technology quickly spread across the world. Everywhere, that is, except Africa, where hybrid maize still makes up only about 25% of the total area planted to maize – despite its manifest yield benefits. To put this statement in context, smallholder farmers using traditional open-pollinated varieties of maize, probably average yields of about 1 MT per hectare in comparison to Mpongwe’s 10 MT target – a factor of ten. This colossal inefficiency is a major contributor to the continuing food insecurity on the continent and, in light of the ever increasing population, a major risk to the future.

This is a simple example of why it is so important to invest in Africa’s seed industry, from breeder to multiplier through production, distribution and retail. Access to and utilization of improved maize seed has the potential to transform African agriculture. African Agricultural Capital (AAC) has already invested in four seed companies in the region and it is both my hope and my intention that AAC will continue to look actively for opportunities to invest in the seed sector in the future.

For more information on this and other important crops in sub-Saharan Africa, it is well worth reading Securing the Harvest, by Joe de Vries and Gary Toennissen. Both work for the Rockefeller Foundation and both were instrumental in the foundation and initial capitalisation of AAC. I owe them a debt of gratitude.

'Twas ever thus

This wonderful cartoon satirises French society just before the French Revolution – more than 200 years ago. The clergy and the nobility are riding on the back of the peasant. Words alone will never communicate as effectively as this simple picture, though Rousseau’s claim that “Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains” comes close.

I was reminded of this cartoon when I read a very interesting article by Lucy Oriang' in Kenya’s Daily Nation. I quote: “There are only two tribes in this country [Kenya] – the rich and the poor. The difference lies in who pays taxes and who doesn’t, and who gets shot in the back by a policeman and who gets a security detail at public expense. It has nothing to do with your mother tongue.” (Her reference to taxes is, I presume, aimed at Kenyan parliamentarians who have opposed a proposal that MPs’ allowances (which are very substantial) should be taxed).

Of course, this analogy of the two tribes is not unique to Kenya: it persists, to this day, all over the world. In fact, it is now much worse than it was: there are many more people who live in bondage and slavery now than at the height of the Atlantic slave trade. What does seem to be missing, however, are campaigns, movements, politics and leaders who propose alternatives to our way of life. Even the recent financial turmoil, which has provided us all with a graphic demonstration of the impact of unalloyed greed, consumption and inequality at both a household and an institutional level, has not yet thrown up alternatives to the ways in which we are organized and governed as societies. Why is this? Was Francis Fukuyama right when, in his book The End of History, he presented the thesis that Western Liberal Democracy is the final form of societal organization to which all societies will ultimately conform?

In East Africa, the overwhelming majority of the population is poor: smallholders eking out a living on small plots of land given over to subsistence cultivation; the urban poor living in low quality housing with poor sanitation, struggling to make ends meet through petty trade or casual employment, or worse. The contrast between rich and poor is more stark than in wealthier European and North American economies. But there are other forms of injustice, inequality and dispossession which have developed and which contribute towards impoverishment of the majority. I am thinking here of the fragmentation of family life, the burden of personal debt, the de-skilling of populations who purchase ready-prepared dinners, who rely on mass media for their entertainment, who dispose rather than mend and recycle, and who are now coming to a slow but steady realization that their way of life is unsustainable….

This cartoon is just as accurate now as it was then. Sadly, it’s hard to believe that we will ever change.

Robin Hood

Well, here's the evidence. We did make it - and, somehow or other, it has turned out pretty well. Most remarkably, I had to substitute Robin Hood at the last moment. Ashley Willison - a Grade 8 student at ISU - managed to learn the part in two days and has done a fantastic job by any standards, but especially for someone so young. It's great fun and there's a good atmosphere in the cast and the production team. The only slight disappointment has been that the audiences (averaging about 120 per performance) have been much lower than we had hoped. I really hope they pick up in numbers for the final four performances this week. There is nothing quite like a full house!

Kampala amateur dramatics

Next week, we will be staging the annual pantomime at the National Theatre in Kampala. In an ill-advised moment of conceit and goodwill, I volunteered to write and direct this year’s offering, Robin Hood of Mabira Forest. In theory, this sort of venture, once or twice a year, should come as a welcome and refreshing diversion from the day-to-day pressures of work. In practice – and I have had enough experience to know – it is painful, stressful and frequently disappointing. This production is no exception.

With less than a week to go before opening night, the failures are numerous. As yet, we have been unable to assemble the whole cast for any one rehearsal. To some extent, with a cast of 23 amateurs, this is inevitable, but it is nevertheless hugely frustrating. The programme is not yet ready. The set is not yet ready. The props are yet to be assembled. The costumes are not yet ready. The orchestra has not yet rehearsed….. “Don’t worry – it’s always like this…” “It’ll all come together next week…” It probably will, but it is profoundly unsatisfactory and, perhaps because I have written the script, personally disappointing, as I hear my beautifully-crafted dialogue mangled in ways that I never imagined possible.

The show probably will come together at the last minute, once the adrenalin of being in the theatre kicks in. Robin Hood is a great story and it translates very well to Uganda. In brief, the story begins with King Richard (otherwise fondly known as Big King Dickie) departing for war and entrusting his Kingdom of Uganda to his weak and feeble brother, Prince John. John and the Sheriff of Kampalaham invent the system of taxation, designed to take from the poor in the name of investment and development but in fact aiming to enrich the ruling class. Robin Hood, together with his band of merry women, emerge as a force who take back from the rich and give to the poor. Mabira Forest, so recently under threat of partial destruction to create land for commercial sugar cane production, is their home. The story includes the obligatory romance between Robin Hood (the Principal Boy) and Maid Marion – and Maid Marion’s mother, the Widow Winterbottom, known to her friends as Booty, provides the role of the Dame. I am lucky enough to have some great performers in the cast: Dick Stockley as the Sheriff, Barbara Kasekende as Marion and David Griffiths as the Dame all spring to mind, but somehow the whole seems to be less, rather than more, than the sum of its parts.

Will I do it again? Never! Or at least until the memory has faded to create a sufficently warm and blurry mental picture. If history is anything to go by, I will be back in the theatre, tearing my hair out, in about nine months’ time.

Sir Roger and the Congo

Once again, the Congo is in the forefront of the media for all the wrong reasons. Civil war, displacement, rape, murder, ethnic cleansing, corruption.... a more talented writer than I described it as "Pandora's box without the hope" and it's hard to escape this conclusion.

I don't know Congo at all well: I have only made one visit, yet it is strangely fascinating. My first memory was of the Rumble in the Jungle, when Muhammed Ali defeated George Foreman in heavyweight boxing. My second was reading Conrad's Heart of Darkness. In the light of what has come afterwards, who can forget the following quote "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much." Certainly Leopold's conquest of the Congo was, even by the standards of imperialism as a whole, not a pretty thing. The supposed Congo Free State in which Leopold and his mercenaries established a centralised government solely for the purpose of looting the country of its rubber, its ivory and its minerals. Adam Hochschild's wonderful book, King Leopold's Ghost, describes the numerous atrocities inflicted on the Congolese people - and first alerted me to the role played by Sir Roger Casement in exposing these atrocities to the outside world.

Sir Roger Casement (pictured above) is an intriguing character. Knighted for his humanitarian services first to the people of the Congo and then for carrying out a similar expose on the abuses and cruelty inflicted on Putumayo indians in the Amazon basin, he fell spectacularly from grace due to his support for the Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein. Latterly tried, convicted and executed for treason - following his bungled attempt to further the Irish rebellion with German support during the first World War - his life story presents a mystery to biographers and historians. This mystery is not only in his public life, but also in his private life - publicised by his English accusers in the form of the infamous black diaries - which describe in some detail his homosexual escapades. But perhaps it is not so difficult: he was undoubtedly a sensitive and kind man, and the horrors of imperial exploitation first in Congo and then in the Amazon - must have led him to think about the English occupation of Ireland....

Sir Roger's other tragedy is that despite his intervention, and that of his friend and tireless human rights campaigner E D Morel, the legacy of Leopold's Congo has proved so strong. From the Belgian abandonment in 1960, to Patrice Lumumba's assassination, to the long and disastrous rule of Mobutu Sese Seko, to the accession (and assassination) of the brutal Laurent Kabila, to the "democratic" elections two years ago which presented Congolese with a choice between the inept Joseph Kabila and war criminal Jean-Pierre Bemba, to Laurent Nkunda's latest incursion ostensibly to protect Tutsi minorities in the East, so little has changed.

For me, Congo exemplifies three things. First, the wicked and enduring scar left by colonialism on Africa. Second, the curse of abundant natural resources in an environment where the biggest fists are all that matter. Third, the hideous impact of systematic corruption on justice and the rule of law. What next for the people of the Congo?

Amaranth and the history of crops

AAC has recently made an investment in a Kenyan business called Amaranth International. This business buys grain amaranth from small farmers in Kenya and Uganda, processes it into flour and popped cereal and markets it under the “Ama” brand throughout Kenya.

Amaranth is a grain that didn’t feature on my childhood dinner table, but it’s becoming more and more popular. In Europe, it is being used increasingly as an ingredient in breads and breakfast cereals. Known as “Terere” in Kenya, it is gaining market share due to its nutritional qualities. It’s gluten-free, a significant source of protein, and has high levels of lysine (an amino acid rare in other grains). It’s also high in iron, with a 1/4 cup containing 60% of an adult’s recommended daily allowance.

Here’s a picture of the plant.

Quite apart from its nutritional qualities, it is also relatively easy to cultivate. In Kenya, farmers can produce three or even four crops annually. It is drought-resistant and currently sells at the farm gate for prices much higher than for maize (the principal staple food). Perhaps most importantly, from a business perspective, it also tastes good!

There are numerous different varieties of Amaranth around the world, many of which have been historically important as staple crops. Most famously, it was grown by the Aztecs in central America, where it formed a staple part of the Aztec diet. As a key part of Aztec religious ceremonies, it was banned by the Conquistadores, but luckily survived in the wild. It is now making a comeback in Latin America. At this point, I have a confession to make. Ever since I read a wonderful book called “Seeds of Change” by Henry Hobhouse, I have found the history of food crops incredibly interesting. This book, which sadly I think is now out of print, discusses five crops which changed the world: cotton, potatoes, tea, quinine and sugar. Each history is fascinating. Maybe some day, a scholar will tell the story of amaranth.

Oba-mania

There have been huge celebrations in Kenya, Uganda and (I'm sure) the rest of Africa following the election of Barack Obama. That a son of a Kenyan immigrant should have risen from humble beginnings to the most powerful position in the world is a remarkable achievement, and will undoubtedly be a source of great pride and inspiration to people everywhere, but most specially in Africa. Following two long campaigns, in which he first defeated the redoubtable Hilary Clinton and then the doughty John McCain, no-one can dispute his credentials.

For me, however, the most interesting thing about the election will be its reverberations across Africa in the next four years. For how much longer will Africans accept ageing leaders who cling to power through profoundly undemocratic systems? When will the simple message for change, embodied in the three words "yes we can", start to spread through Africa? Until recently, poor communications have stifled political campaigning by opposition groups, but the internet and the cell phone are changing that, and fast. The instruments of mass communication are no longer under government control. In winning the election, Obama may be the catalyst for change in Africa and for the transfer of political power to the new generation. Even more than elsewhere, support by the young in Africa is critical for change to take place. Population growth and demographics mean that the overwhelming majority of the African electorate is under 40 years of age. Leaders who are able to win and harness their support will create the future.

Many people I meet harbour negative perceptions about Africa. They complain about corruption and bemoan conflict. My response to this is to point to the remarkable tenacity and determination of most African people, who achieve great things in spite of all the obstacles placed in their path. Barack Obama is a shining example of this tenacity and determination, but there are many others like him in Africa, in commerce, in industry, in education and even in politics, who will shape the future of this young continent. Make no mistake, Africa's future is bright.

Tree planting at AAC/Kilimo Trust

Having talked about the importance of tree planting, I came across this photo of a happy Financial Controller planting an avocado tree at the AAC/Kilimo Trust offices about 2 months ago. Edward Isingoma Matsiko is usually deskbound, but that day at least we managed to get his hands dirty.

We all planted trees and then followed up our work with a short office party (goat muchomo for those of you interested). I have just been to visit my orange tree and I am glad to report that it is growing well, though in need of some early side shoot pruning.

Trees and Honey

Very few days go by in this job wthout learning something new and interesting. A few years ago, when I was working for CDC, I learnt a lot about the cultivation and export of fresh vegetables. Subsequently, my colleagues found my extensive knowledge of vegetables a source of great amusement, though I could never see the joke.....

Over the past two months, two more areas have caught my interest and attention. Trees and honey. Trees - and more specifically the lack of them - is a fairly obvious one. Here are a few facts: East Africa's trees produce about 80% of the population's energy requirements (who ever said biofuels were something new?); population growth - and land pressure - is rising at about 4% per annum. To put this in context, that means the population of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania will double within 20 years! Forest cover is diminishing: in Kenya, forests now cover less than 2% of the area. Tanzania and Uganda are slightly better, but the trend is sharply down... Timber prices are increasing all the time....

Now, I knew all this before. What I didn't know, until attending an excellent presentation by Eric Bettelheim of Sustainable Forestry Management last week in Kigali, was that Africa had been unable to benefit from the official market in carbon trading established under the Kyoto Protocol a few years ago. If, therefore, a government or a private individual or business plants trees in Africa, s/he is ineligible for carbon credits - which are available to European and North American growers! The result - deforestation continues apace in the developing world but afforestation is on the increase in Europe and the USA. And I thought it was a global problem....... Fortunately, however, the business case for planting forests in East Africa is becoming very persuasive, even without the carrot of carbon trading opportunities, and, if Mr Bettelheim gets his way, the economics may look even better in the near future. Buy land and plant some trees - in today's fragile economic environment, that advice could be a great long term pension investment, besides doing something small to save the planet.

And if you plant some trees, why not invest in some beehives? The bees do all the work and you collect the income. Furthermore, the global honey price is increasing, due mostly to the impact of bee disease in USA & Europe and the consequent reduction in bee colonies. Beeswax, propolis and royal jelly, alongside the honey, and cross-pollination for your tree crops to boot.

If you want to learn some more, visit http://www.sfm.bm/. Think about it.

In praise of Ugandan lunches

Every day, lunch is delivered to the AAC & Kilimo Trust offices. With minor variations, it is always the same: fish stew, matooke (pulped cooking bananas), rice and other carbohydrates, fresh vegetables, beans and either a beef of chicken stew, together with some fresh fruit to follow. It may not sound very exciting, but three factors make it the best regular lunch I have ever had:
1. Freshness: all the ingredients are completely fresh - and most grown without the use of many chemicals or fertilisers.
2. Matooke: a fantastic staple food, packed full of fibre, and incredibly good for digestion
3. Pearl Chilli and Garlic sauce: manufactured in Uganda by Reco Industries in Kasese and quite honestly the best bottled sauce anywhere on the planet.
Marvellous, low-cost, fresh and healthy - how food should be. My advice: eat Ugandan!

Visiting Rwanda

Or, more accurately, Kigali for the Commonwealth Business Council Investment Forum for East Africa.

My first encounter with Rwanda was in 1994, when I was working for the International Red Cross Federation's regional delegation in Nairobi. As an accountant, my job for a short period was to deliver huge sums of cash to the relief effort in Goma and Bukavu, just across the Congo border. The weekly consignments averaged about $500,000 in cash - mixed denominations, 1999 series or later. By keeping the process low-profile, I managed to avoid becoming a target myself, but it was an uncomfortable, but very necessary task. At the time the banking system in Eastern Congo (Zaire) had broken down completely, so cash was the only means of financing the massive relief operation.

Since then, I have been back on a number of occasions, always with delight at the visible and tangible progress since the dark days of 1994. Most memorably, I made a trip in 2002 to Ruhengeri to visit mountain gorillas. I had tagged a day visit on the end of a business trip to Kigali and as a result was extremely badly equipped for the short hike up the mountain to the forest. It had rained the night before, as we left early in the morning, the valleys were cloud-filled but the hills clear. The image of the deep green "mille collines" floating in a sea of white clouds in the early morning sunlight is unforgettable, yet it pales by comparison with the sight of a family group of 15-20 mountain gorillas.

Kigali is clean, orderly and functional but, in comparison with the hustle and bustle of other East African commercial centres, strangely devoid of apparent colour and energy. There is a reserve and a sense of watchfulness which leaves the visitor with a sense of remoteness....

As for the conference, well, I was very interested in about 20% of the agenda. Protocols observed, there were some very interesting discussions on the future of agriculture and forestry in Africa (both of which are close to my heart) and, as is always the case, a good opportunity to meet a range of useful contacts. Sadly, the session on financial inclusion - the delivery of appropriate financial services to the unbanked majority - was disappointingly bland. The simple fact is that banks in East Africa are extremely profitable and simply do not need to invest in delivering banking services into rural areas. Furthermore, they are far too costly - tending, as everywhere else in the world - to grow fat on the huge and indefensible spreads between customer deposit interest rates and borrowing rates.... Am I alone in thinking that there is something fundamentally wrong when bankers are the highest paid segment of the workforce?

I hope I will be back in Rwanda soon. And I hope, next time, that I will be able to see something more than a hotel, a taxi, a conference centre and an airport. On the flight back this morning, I realised that I had in all honesty had no contact with Rwanda... again. East Africans, international delegates, foreign-owned and managed organisations, but nothing that brought me any closer to a relationship or an understanding of Rwanda. The remoteness remains.

The mystery of the devaluing Shilling

People keep asking me the same question. What will the impact of global economic turmoil be on Africa? How is it going to affect our economies? The general consensus seems to be that short term risks revolve around (1) a possible contraction in remittances from the African diaspora (2) reduced demand for commodities and African exports - including tourism and (3) a possible reduction in aid flows due to changes in allocations of donor country budgets. This sounds sensible, but you would think that each of these risks would take some time to affect the actual supply and demand of foreign exchange in East Africa - that the impact would not be immediate.

So what's happened? Well, over the last two months or so, both the Kenyan and Ugandan Shillings have lost more than 20% of their value against the US Dollar - after both having had a long period of stability (indeed strengthening) aganist the Dollar. It's hard to believe that the Dollar supply side has contracted sufficiently rapidly in such a short period, so it must be demand-driven. Bu where's the demand coming from? I'd like to know.

The next question, of course, is about impact, winners and losers. Exporters are quietly celebrating. For a long period during which local inflation was causing wage pressure without the benefit of any depreciation in local currency, exporters of major commodities (tea, coffee, horticulture and other agricultural products) have been struggling. Suddenly, the twin effect of a depreciating currency and rising international commodity prices look set to provide a substantial windfall. Importers, on the other hand, will struggle to pass on increased costs to consumers - and this presents a serious risk, especially in relation to oil and oil derivative imports. Inflation will rise, which will raise the cost of debt (which had been coming down slowly, even if still high by international standards).

Let's hope the exporter windfall brings in enough forex flows to stabilise the currencies. If not, then there's a real risk of forex shortages causing further depreciation, stimulating inflation and causing real damage to the regional economy. Let's hope!

AAC enters the blogosphere

My name is Tom Adlam and I am lucky enough to be managing African Agricultural Capital: an Investment Fund for - as the name suggests - agriculture-related businesses in East Africa. My team and I are based in Kampala, Uganda, and you can find more information at http://www.aac.co.ke/.

I want to use this blog to share personal experiences and information about business, working and living in East Africa with all of you out there who are interested. It is important for me, at this point, to stress that the views and opinions expressed in this blog are my own and in no way represent the views and opinions of African Agricultural Capital as an organisation. I will probably try to post a weekly update.

The inspiration for this blog comes from one of our investee companies, Sandstorm Africa (see http://www.sandstormkenya.com/) whose CEO Mark Stephenson has recently started his own blog. It's a fascinating read which you can find at http://www.sandbagman.blogspot.com/.

And, at least for today, that's about it. More news to follow soon.