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In Mbane, we no longer know about the “project” after a visit by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Sovereignty, Mabouba Diagne.
During a visit to northern Senegal, specifically to the SEN INDIA agricultural operation in the Mbane commune, the minister praised agribusiness and then asked farmers to settle their quarrels with industrialists. Furthermore, he defended the establishment of SEN INDIA in Mbane because of its contribution to onion self-sufficiency. Worse still, he did not meet or listen to the commune breeders, who are the main victims of land expropriation by agribusiness in the Senegal River Basin.
Why should we remain silent in the face of a foreign company that illegally acquired thousands of hectares of land belonging to breeders? Should we remain silent in the face of an agricultural enterprise that transforms the local population into low-paid agricultural workers without health insurance? Should we remain silent in the face of a system where state representatives play the role of facilitators and buy the conscience of vulnerable groups to accept the expansion of land in SEN India? Should we remain silent in the face of a system that does not contribute to the creation of endogenous wealth and does not improve the living conditions of local people? Should we remain silent in the face of farms that close access to Lake Giles and hinder agricultural activities of family farms?
Mr. Minister, we are not against the creation of agribusinesses, but we are against their relationship with indigenous peoples and their impact on the environment. Food sovereignty only makes sense if it is supported by family farms and local agricultural entrepreneurs, not by foreign agribusinesses that plunder our resources, plunder our lands and impoverish our people.
Mr. Minister, the Mbane commune has been suffering from very complex land disputes since the Wade regime, which have worsened under Macky, and your approach has not reassured us, despite our hopes in President Diomaye Faye, who supported the Dengele farmers on Babacar Ngom’s farm and reiterated his desire to develop an agricultural policy based on strengthening family farms.
We recommend that, before taking action, an in-depth diagnosis of the land situation be conducted by listening to all the actors who have been leading the fight against land grabbing in Mbane, especially Professor Alioune Diack, who has developed 60,000 hectares of land since 1996 in the Guiers Lake irrigation project in the Jeeri region.
Sidatasov
Mbane Municipal Councillors Commune.
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