(Ecofin Agency) - On July 7, 2017, populations of Dodel and Demett in Senegal have marched to protest against land grabbing in the communities. Indeed, the Dodel municipal council on March 24 this year has sold 10,000 ha of agricultural lands to Moroccan billionaire Anas Safrioui, head of Afri Partners, for two billion cfa only.

According to last Friday’s protestors, this deals threatens the source of living of about 20 villages. “Breeding and fishing sites, as well as many hamlets, will disappear with the project as the Moroccans will leave nothing to the over 36,000 farmers living in the area. This means that all the villages that depended from these lands will inevitably wither,” the protestors’ spokesman, Amadou Sakho, told Le Soleil.

In a bid to calm the angered populations, Afri Partners’ Business Development Director, Mehdi Zemmama, said the Moroccan company will invest up to FCFA75 billion in the area to produce each year 115 000 tons of paddy rice. He added that many infrastructures will also be built, resulting in the creation of about a thousand jobs.

Souha Touré