Construction of the Kandadji dam in Niger will involve, among other consequences, the appropriation of agricultural land owned by customary holders but also in many cases sub-holdings of other non-landowners. The government offered a long lease of 50 years for owners in compensation for their expropriated property rights.

How should the State compensate for the loss of the right of use by non-landowners farming land expropriated for the development of the Kandadji dam? This study aims to answer this question and proposes the use of a 'contract of occupation'.

The Kandadji dam, currently under construction in Niger, will displace 38,000 people. The High Commission for the Development of the Niger Valley (HCAVN), in accordance with national law, is committed to compensating people for the traditionally-owned land that they will lose.

37,891 inhabitants were displaced when the Kandadji dam was built in Niger. We carried out a study of the legal aspects of such displacement, examining ways for the State to optimise its investment whilst also seeking justice for displaced populations. This study weighs up the various options for managing legal processes within the affected areas of dams.

This study presents the results of field interviews with farmers, managers and the private sector from the Sélingué and Maninkoura (Mali) irrigation schemes to discuss how the current terms and conditions of the farming contract are implemented. These interviews focused on the functioning of the land management system as perceived by the stakeholders. The aim was to discuss the necessary and possible reforms of land tenure security which might allow a better development of smallholder farms.

Document language: 

French

Author(s): 

Moussa Djiré, Amadou Keita, Kadari Traoré

Le développement de l’irrigation fait partie des stratégies prioritaires dans les pays du Sahel pour lutter contre la pauvreté et l’insécurité alimentaire. À l’heure où les gouvernements s’engagent, une fois de plus, à augmenter les superficies irrigables, il a semblé pertinent d’analyser, conformément aux lignes directrices de la CEDEAO, les résultats obtenus sur des grands périmètres aménagés dans les années 80 et 90 afin d’en tirer les leçons pour les aménagements futurs.

The development of irrigation is one of the priority strategies in the Sahel countries to tackle poverty and food insecurity. At a time when governments are once again committing to increase irrigable areas, it seemed relevant to analyze, in line with the ECOWAS guidelines, the results achieved in large irrigated schemes developed in the 1980s and 1990s to draw lessons for future developments.

Le développement de l’irrigation fait partie des stratégies prioritaires dans les pays du Sahel pour lutter contre la pauvreté et l’insécurité alimentaire. À l’heure où les gouvernements s’engagent, une fois de plus, à augmenter les superficies irrigables, il a semblé pertinent d’analyser, conformément aux lignes directrices de la CEDEAO, les résultats obtenus sur des grands périmètres aménagés dans les années 80 et 90 afin d’en tirer les leçons pour les aménagements futurs.

The development of irrigation is one of the priority strategies in the Sahel countries to tackle poverty and food insecurity. At a time when governments are once again committing to increase irrigable areas, it seemed relevant to analyze, in line with the ECOWAS guidelines, the results achieved in large irrigated schemes developed in the 1980s and 1990s to draw lessons for future developments.

Between late 2014 and June 2016, South Africa experienced an El Niño-related drought, which various reports claim to be the worst meteorological drought in the southern Africa region in 35 years. In February 2016, the Southern Africa Food Lab (SAFL) commissioned a drought impact assessment (DIA) in the Mopani district of Limpopo province, as part of its Agro-ecology Awareness (AeA) project, and Supporting Smallholder Agriculture programme. This report provides the findings of this assessment.

This study was requested by the Ministry for Coordination of Environmental Affairs (MICOA), through the National Directorate of Territorial Planning (DINAPOT) in conjunction with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT); for this purpose, the team of the Cruzeiro do Sul – Research Institute for Development counted with the participation of a group of students of the Master degree course in agricultural development at the Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry Engineering (FAEF) of the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM).

The term ‘usurpation’ refers to the action of crafty or violent appropriation of something which is legitimately owned by someone else and is therefore; taken without right, acquired by fraud, or illegally possessed. The term is used to describe the global phenomenon of “land grabbing”, such as the rent or purchase of vast extensions of land in poorer developing countries (as is the case of Mozambique) by richer countries with food insecurity and by private investors of those same countries so as to produce or explore diverse goods for export.