Since the early 2000s, Senegal, like most countries in the South, has been facing a particularly strong
demand for land, both on rainfed and irrigated land, located on both national and State property.
According to the National Property Law (NPL) of 1964, which remains the only legal land framework despite all the work carried out within the framework of the NCLR, which has not been followed up since 2017, there are three land properties, with categories for each, in Senegal: the State Property, the private property for individuals and the national property.
According to this division, 95% of the land in the country belongs to the national property and can not be sold, leased or given to foreigners. However, for these lands of the national property, the local authorities in charge of the allocation are competent only in the terroir area. That is a situation that does not necessarily contribute to securing the rural communities’ land rights insofar as the State carries out large scale land transactions without informing or involving the local populations or competent services. In addition, there is the increasingly important development of a land market in which people out of opportunism, necessity or simply fear of being dispossessed, sell or even sell off their land.
This rush to the richest and most fertile lands in the South, including Senegal, took on unprecedented
proportions from 2008 onwards, following the global financial and economic crisis that pushed
investors back into agriculture.
In Senegal, the LSLA phenomenon has gained momentum with the government’s implementation of a
new policy orientation that has materialized with programs such as the Return to Agriculture (REVA) in
2006 and the Great Offensive for Food and Abundance (GOANA), 2008, one of the objectives of which
was also to combat illegal migration to Europe. This policy orientation, which favors the agricultural
sector as the main lever for development, continues with the Senegal Emerging Plan (IPAR, 2010; Enda
Pronat, 2010; CICODEV Africa, 2011), which explicitly focuses on the synergy between agro-industries
and family farms as the main lever for rural development (Bourgoin & alii, 2019).
The Senegal River Valley, especially the Delta, is one of the most coveted areas of the country. This
situation stems largely from the policy of the State of Senegal which, through massive investments,
encourages the development of agribusiness and promotes intensive agriculture for self-sufficiency
in rice, exports of products and wealth creation for farmers to improve their living conditions and the
development of these territories.
The Niayes zone, because of its geographical position, its very high agro-physical potential favorable to
the development of the horticulture and its mining resources, is also particularly sought after.
The Groundnut Basin, which for a long time was the area par excellence for cash crop but family farming, is also affected by this high demand for land for various activities depending on the sub-area, while it is already facing high salinization, particularly in its southern part. The southern and natural region of Casamance is also affected by this phenomenon.
