Paper short abstract:

For current attempts to upscale domestic paddy rice production by the Senegalese government to succeed, the creation of larger land holdings appears to be essential. However, this is problematic in Casamance, in the south of the country, amid long-standing tensions and conflicts over land tenure.

Paper long abstract:

For current attempts to upscale domestic paddy rice production by the Senegalese government to succeed, addressing land tenure issues appears to be essential. Larger holdings are necessary to allow agricultural mechanisation and to facilitate other economies of scale. In one of the main rice-growing areas of the country - Casamance, in the south - no clear strategy or will to address it is evident, however. In Lower Casamance, where paddy rice farming is characterised by small, fragmented holdings, the issue tends to be avoided or inaction conveniently parked by officials under excuses about 'difficult' populations or their 'culture'. In reality this masks well-founded tensions around this matter on both sides. Smallholders are understandably wary because of historical sensitivities over land tenure within some communities and are more generally mistrustful of state intervention in land tenure due to past abuses, some of which helped to fuel the long-running separatist rebellion in Casamance. Officials themselves recognise that tenure remains a divisive issue in the area and could cause further conflict. Elsewhere, however - notably in a large state-run project in Upper Casamance - tensions over land seem to have been less evident, ironically because there was little history of smallholder rice farming in the area.