2023-10-08 22:05:36
The situation of farmers and the future of the sector are worrying in the Sahel. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees counts more than 3 million internally displaced people in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso alone. Faced with this security deterioration, how can we develop the agricultural sector? This is the subject of a report from the Institut Montagne, which calls for investment in agriculture in West Africa.
Livestock theft, looting of crops, abuses in many localities in the Sahel are pushing farmers into exodus, testifies Ousseini Ouedraogo, Burkinabe agronomist, director of Roppa, the Network of Farmers’ and Producers’ Organizations in Africa. West.
« Many farmers have moved, leaving their heritage », Explains Ousseini Ouedraogo. “ Currently, even if it is not in all areas, we are seeing a return because areas have been liberated. But this has affected production, the food security situation in many localities and in some countries as a whole. »
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Returns of farmers to their farms observed in Kombori or Aoréma in the north of Burkina Faso, according to the director of Roppa. But this neglect of rural areas is one of the breeding grounds for insecurity in the region, explains Jonathan Guiffard, associate researcher at the Institut Montaigne in Paris.
« One of the main factors in the recruitment of jihadist groups is the economic marginalization of rural populations. They are the ones who do not benefit from the same resources and the same wealth as in the cities. We are dealing with countries which are, of course, not very developed, but which still have significant growth with a lot of fairly poorly distributed economic opportunities.. »
Target investments
The report co-written by Jonathan Guiffard (to consult here) is a call to invest in the West African agricultural sector. A call to stabilize land policy, build new infrastructure, take into account a subject that has been neglected for too long
« This report does not propose completely revolutionary solutions, but highlights the fact that there are many different subjects, that they all need to be addressed at the same time. There will not be a public policy that responds to one of the segments that will resolve the problem of agricultural development, that is not true. On the other hand, by working on these different segments, notably the public and the private together, we estimate that there will be significant improvements. »
Also listenAgriculture in Africa: “More investment is needed in the agri-food system”
Investments agreed, but not just any investments, recalls Ousseini Ouedraogo. “ You have to target well, and you have to supervise well. An investment in the field of agri-food processing, an investment which will guide and facilitate access for small producers to the domestic market, is a good investment. But an investment that will create land grabbing is not a good investment. »
He calls on States to invest, in particular to reduce food losses. They represent around a third of production in sub-Saharan Africa.
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