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Senegal: Youth who refuse to farm
ZIGUINCHOR: Landmines and armed attacks in Senegal's Casamance region are preventing farmers from maximising production from the region's fertile soil, but there is another problem, too: not enough young people are taking up farming, residents and experts say.
The increasingly urbanised youth are often reluctant to help with digging and hoeing, even during the holidays, forcing some families to pay day workers to do the job.
“I cultivate a much smaller area than in the past, because I have to pay people to work my land,” said farmer Catherine Badiane, in her 50s, who lost her husband years ago. “Each year I pay people to work my land. My sons, most of whom live in Dakar, refuse to come back to Casamance to farm. When I ask them to come, they say they are busy..."
