Victims of land speculation in 37 municipalities of Kati, in the south of Mali, organized last Thursday a protest march to denounce the practice.

“Massive agricultural land grabs for personal interest, which affect tens of thousands of hectares via speculation, hurt customary and human rights and prevent local communities and farmers from practising agricultural and pastoral activities on which they depend much for their subsistence and their survival, even,” Drissa Niaré, the demonstrators’ representative declared, according to Mali Actu. 

In face of this, protesters called to municipal and prefectural authorities to take action and do what they must. “The land grabs aggravate inequalities in land access and its control, to the detriment of farmers. We firmly approve cancellations of administrative provisions of land titles by the ministry of housing, urbanism and land affairs. The moralization of land management and the respect of farmers’ rights is primarily the responsibility of community, regional and national authorities. These authorities bear the greatest share of responsibility in the land grabbing issue,” Niaré said.