Food security and resilience

Food security is both an issue and a major challenge for many developing countries. In the face of population growth and the effects of climate change, the right to adequate, available, and accessible food, produced in a way that is mindful of the sustainability of production factors, is far from being realized in many geographical areas. This contributes to the increased vulnerability of the most disadvantaged populations. Constantly engaged in the defense and protection of the rights of communities, CRADESC has distinguished itself since its creation through flagship actions in favor of the farming world, through various impactful initiatives in its areas of intervention. The right to food, which is included in economic, social, and cultural rights, occupies a privileged place in CRADESC’s intervention choices due to the stakes and challenges related to food security.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 also integrates the right to food through food security by working to improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Several other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) align with this effort to achieve food security and household resilience. Specifically, these are SDGs 3, 12, 13, and 17, which respectively focus on good health and well-being, establishing sustainable consumption and production patterns, the urgency of taking action to combat climate change and its impacts, and strengthening the means to implement and revitalize the global partnership.

The effectiveness of the right to food and, by extension, food security is intrinsically linked to the related rights of property and water. Indeed, cultivating and feeding oneself requires access to land, either as an owner or as a simple user. As for water, it is crucial not only to meet basic human needs but also for agriculture, which must feed more people as the resource becomes scarcer and agricultural practices are undergoing significant changes. In light of this situation, a structured action is necessary to develop resilient agriculture that takes into account the protection and promotion of the economic, social, and cultural rights of local communities.

It is in this context that CRADESC has implemented the food security and resilience program for peasant organizations in the face of the numerous challenges of family farming. This program, which has made significant strides through the structuring of peasant organizations into cooperative societies in the Niayes, operates in a context where the new political authorities of Senegal demonstrate a renewed commitment to achieving food sovereignty. This represents an additional opportunity to act in favor of agricultural actors to preserve their area of activity and ensure them decent incomes.

The implementation of the food security and resilience program takes place in a context where access to land for the peasant movement is increasingly threatened by rapid urbanization, the extractive sector, and state infrastructure projects in the Niayes area through expropriations and the involuntary displacement of populations, while family agriculture remains the main source of income for the majority of rural households in Senegal. Also, despite their undeniable and recognized economic role by public authorities, women remain marginalized in access to land and production factors in the agricultural sector. They are relegated to processing and marketing, while greater involvement in production activities could contribute substantially to their empowerment.

Visit to the field of the association of people living with a disability in Mboro.

In addition to the challenges related to the technical support of producers and marketing, agriculture must face the effects of climate change that increasingly impact production systems and make the future of family farming uncertain. This program addresses the necessity of acting in favor of the peasant movement, which must contend with the reduction of agricultural land, technological developments, and the consequences of climate change. The revitalization of producer organizations through their structuring into cooperatives, securing land rights for rural populations, strengthening governance, providing technical support, as well as modernizing production systems are prerequisites for achieving food security. The resilience of family farming thus arises as a necessity to provide appropriate responses to the changing needs, including for the most vulnerable.

Support project for farmers in the Niayes (PAAN)

Issues of DESC in the Niayes :

• Senegal has a coastal and maritime zone that is 700 km long, characterized by a diversity of ecosystems and resources including mangroves, lagoons, swampy estuaries, and sandy beaches.
• A choice made in favor of the DESC: to act for the benefit of vulnerable communities (economic, social, and cultural justice) to bridge the gap in Francophone countries.
• Strategic intervention areas: for the protection of economic, social and cultural rights in relation to the concerns of local communities;
• The Niayes marked by: rapid industrialization, the growth of the extractive sector, industrial units, and the development of infrastructure projects, reduction of land in the first horticultural area of Senegal thus threatening the future of agriculture.

Methodological Approach :

• Advocacy around infrastructural issues: a community mobilization around the impacts of the Dakar-Tivaouane-Saint-Louis highway (5 groups of those affected and one (01) Union created to defend the rights of the communities).
• Strengthening the technical capacities of communities: on the knowledge of their rights (ESCR) and advocacy for access to agricultural land through the strategic downgrading of the restoration perimeter of the Niayes.
• 30% Campaign : for the inclusion of women in the redistribution of funds allocated to local communities in the regions of Thiès, Kédougou, and Matam.