Reflections on a quarter-century of stabilisation agriculture in Casamance, Senegal with Martin Evans

Event details

The separatist rebellion in Casamance, Senegal, has driven what is arguably the longest-running civil conflict in West Africa.

Following large-scale human displacement in the 1980s and particularly the 1990s, generally (if erratically) improving security conditions since the turn of the millennium have allowed return and reconstruction in most rural areas that were previously displaced. Re-establishment of agricultural production has been important in restoring rural livelihoods and rebuilding communities in such contexts.

The seminar reflects on the dynamics involved, including international aid, shifting government priorities, availability of labour and other inputs, attempts at agricultural diversification, urbanisation, and the role of youth. It concludes that amid evident successes built on considerable local effort, ‘stabilisation’ has still proved challenging amid ongoing social, economic and environmental changes.

Biography

Martin Evans joined CAWR as an Honorary Research Fellow in 2020, after 11 years lecturing in Development Studies at the University of Chester (where he still does some teaching in the School of Education). He originally gained a BSc in Botany at the University of Bristol, then an MA in Environment and Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), before completing a PhD in Geography at SOAS and King’s College London, followed by a postdoc at the University of Leicester.

He has been researching socioeconomic, political and agroecological aspects of conflict and ‘post-conflict’ reconstruction since 1999, focusing on the Casamance rebellion in Senegal. His ongoing research interests sit at the nexus of natural resource management, rural livelihoods and (in)security in Casamance and beyond.

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