Large-Scale Investments in Irrigated Agricultural Production in the Senegal River Valley: Making the Most of Opportunities to Expand Decentralized and Participatory Land Governance
Kent Michael Elbow et al.
The Millennium Challenge Account in Senegal is implementing a five-year (2010-2015) Integrated Water Resources Management project to expand irrigated agricultural production in the Senegal River Valley. The IWRM includes a Land Tenure Security Activity to protect and secure land property rights for IWRM beneficiaries. The LTSA model of decentralized and participatory land governance has attracted the attention of the Government of Senegal, and during its implementation the project has seized opportunities to influence national land tenure policy, to support implementation in the SRV of new decentralization legislation, and to provide services and advice supporting local, participatory land governance to incoming private and donor funded projects targeting expanded irrigated agricultural production in the SRV. The LTSA model developed in the SRV includes two fundamental components: facilitated local participation in decision-making, including design by local stakeholders of community-specific land access policies, and strengthening local government capacity to implement and sustain good land governance. A critical need is to balance existing, community-based land rights with the interests of and the need for non-resident investment in agricultural production. LTSA results to date suggest that the key to attracting investment is to empower local stakeholders to set the ground rules for access to productive land, and to ensure that communities hold the home court advantage in negotiations with nonresident investors.
Event: Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2015
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