LARGE-SCALE INVESTMENTS IN IRRIGATED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

IN THE SENEGAL RIVER VALLEY: MAKING THE MOST OF OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPAND DECENTRALIZED AND PARTICIPATORY LAND GOVERNANCE

Alain Diouf, MCA-SenegalKent Elbow, MCC Land Team

Oumou Kalsoum Seck, MCA-Senegal

Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2015

Focus of our paper:

Distinction between:• Programmed activities: implementation of the

MCA Land Tenure Security Activity• Non-programmed activities: taking advantage of

(often unanticipated) opportunities to promote and expand good local land governance

Both are important!Our paper highlights the second

• Longstanding magnet for development of irrigated agriculture

• Land is managed by local governments

• History and continuing specter of land conflict (sometimes framed as family farms versus non-resident investors)

Context: Defining Features of the Senegal River Valley

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Development assumptions in the Senegal River Valley

•Economic prospects rest on expansion and sustainability of irrigated agricultural production

•Need to identify and secure existing land rights – while expanding access to land to new actors and new investment – both local and non-local

Context of the Land Tenure Security Activity

LTSA Intervention Zone: 4 communities in Delta and

5 communities in Podor

LTSA is a component of the MCA IWRM Project: •$170m investment•Safeguard and expand production on over 35,000 ha•Add 7,800 ha irrigable surface area•Construct 450 ha irrigated perimeter

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Objectives of the Land Tenure Security Activity

Build on the “3 pillars” model:

Actors – Space – Tools

Ensure Good Local Land Governance

Achieve agricultural development that balances family farming with private investment

Formalize land rights and deliver titles to untitled « legitimate » rights holders

Develop and apply « participatory » land allocation criteria

Enhance capacity of local actors to manage land tenure

Improve and apply existing land management tools (land use plans, investment rules, land registries, land information system and procedures manuals)

LTSA activities designed to achieve targeted results

Select LTSA program results achieved to present

Phase 1 (Sept 2010 – March 2012):•Land rights inventories covering 58 151 ha•Geo-referenced database•9 sets of community-specific land allocation criteria•Series of detailed baseline studies (état des lieux)

Select LTSA program results achieved to present

Phase 2 (Feb 2013 – July 2015):•Application of land allocation criteria for 450 ha Ngallenka perimeter; organization and training of 53 producer groups•Over 2,000 applications for titles now being processed (target = 3,500)•62% (Delta) and 67% (Ngallenka) of identified land conflicts are resolved•Nearly 1,500 stakeholders trained•9 land information systems installed•Improved land management tools are operational•Local land use plans are revised and implemented

Land Tenure Security Activity: Extra-program opportunities

Establishing feedback loops between project results, policy formulation and policy implementation

• Leadership of land tenure working group of the Presidential Investment Advisory Council

• Participation in the working group of the Land Tenure Reform Commission

• Design and implementation of training on decentralization “Act 3”

SEN HUILE/SEN ETHANOL PRIVATE INVESTMENT

MCA facilitated implementation of elements of its local land governance model including:

• Identification of local stake-holding groups, including producers, customary land managers, civil society organizations, and decision makers in both decentralized and de-concentrated governments.

• Dialogue with the identified stakeholders, accompanied by a process of public validation of decisions taken at each step of the dialogue.

• Meetings of all parties for confirmation of the agreement.

Duration of the process: one full year

PDIDAS commitment: • Community-based land management • Access to developed land for non-resident investors.Challenging legal context:• Communes may only confer use rights titles • Only the central government may matriculate land to obtain or

confer full property rights • Once matriculated in the name of the central government land

may be co-managed by the central and local governments, or transferred to local collectives (governments) by establishing a lease.

Lending a hand to public Investments in the SRV:Project for Inclusive and

Sustainable Agribusiness in Senegal

Lending a hand to public Investments in the SRV:Project for Inclusive and

Sustainable Agribusiness in Senegal

MCA legal analysis yielded the following solution to the legal challenges and ensured fulfillment of the PDIDAS commitment:

1. Matriculate the land in the name of the state2. Lease the land to the Commune 3. Sub-lease through the Commune to private

investors.

Considerations regarding the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM)

• The Land Information System designed and installed in the 9 communes of the LTSA intervention zone was designed in view of LADM standards, including provisions for “parties,” “administrative units” and “spatial units.”

• The LTSA LIS is designed in view of land tenure legislation in Senegal. While customary land rights are not recognized in Senegalese law they are inventoried and formalized with support from LTSA, thereby moving the formerly undocumented rights into the category of formal land rights.

• The LTSA LIS is designed to be flexible and responsive to Senegalese land tenure laws and practices as they evolve.

THANK YOU