THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Palm oil, an ingredient in so many products from soap to noodles, is a third world product that requires lots of land. The government in Liberia has promised multinational companies land to grow the trees that palm oil is derived from. That land has been appropriated from local farmers who were promised jobs that never materialized. The result has been unrest among people who no longer have land to grow their crops on.

In Liberia, the unrest in Butaw is just the latest episode in a series of recent land disputes that have turned violent. The small West African nation does not have large deposits of minerals and it has been slow to exploit its oil reserves. Instead, it has land, which multinational companies have been eager to acquire. The government has promised at least 520,000 hectares of land — close to five percent of the country — to the top four palm oil companies in Liberia. These investments will bring development to the rural regions, the government says. GVL alone plans to invest $1.6 billion in the development of its palm oil plantations.

But the over 70 percent of Liberians who depend on agriculture for their livelihood are less convinced. Reluctant to hand over their land for uncertain gain, many villages have descended into violence. In 2009, the United Nations Mission in Liberia identified land and property conflict as a serious threat to the country’s peace and development. The government has since encouraged concession holders to negotiate directly with villagers to expand their plantations. It has created a David and Goliath scenario, with high stakes for all parties.

Palm oil is a ubiquitous component of modern life. It can be found in candy bars and dish soap, lipstick and instant noodles. Most of the world’s supply comes from the red fruit of the stocky African oil palm tree, Elaeis guineensis. A healthy tree can produce a single yield of bright red, plum-sized fruit that together can weigh hundreds of pounds. A hectare of palm trees can produce as much as eight tons of oil.

While the African oil palm is native to West Africa, the largest producer of palm oil since 2007 has been Indonesia, with Malaysia coming a close second. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture, 8 million hectares of oil palm trees are currently under cultivation in the country, twice as many as in 2000. Last year, the country was expected to produce 33.5 million tons of palm oil.

Oil palm trees need consistently high temperatures and humidity to bear fruit, making a rain forest climate ideal for their growth. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that from 1990 to 2010, about one-third of the land planted with oil palm was land that had been cleared of virgin rain forest. Palm oil is blamed with placing the orangutan on the endangered species list, evicting indigenous communities from their land and releasing enormous quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Standard procedure, exploit the resources, fuck the people then call in the police when their anger explodes. And what do we care so long as the products of our lives remain available without let or hindrance. Life goes on.