Dakar

Flooded Surburb IV

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:02 -0600

Most of Diameguene's families come from rural villages and agricultural pasts, which they left behind during the years that drought devastated their land. While rains have returned, the people have not. "What the system should be looking at today is, these stranded people living in the city, contributing to urbanization, it should be finding strategies that would encourage these people to go back to the rural world, where they can easily sustain themselves by farming," says Mariam Sow, coordinator of ENDA's rural and agricultural development wing and resident of Diameguene. Photo by Matt Durning.

Flooded Surburb III

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:41 -0600

When the 2009 rains first came, the government funded a water pump to suck dry the inundated areas. Then it stopped the funding, and now the water pump itself is submerged. Photo by Matt Durning.

Flooded Surburb II

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:07 -0600

Though the rains stopped several months ago, many homes are still underwater. Families with no place to go continue life among stagnant water and swarms of mosquitos, hauling away the water one bucket at a time. Photo by Matt Durning.

Urban Migrants, Flooded Suburbs

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:05 -0600

The city of Dakar is inundated by millions of Senegalese who left poor rural villages in search for work in Dakar. Abdoul Samat Diof, 30, came to the suburb of Diameguene 11 years ago, and has yet to find a job. In the meantime, his hands are full coordinating relief efforts for a community that found itself underwater when a deluge hit the city last fall. Photo by Matt Durning.

Urban Farmer

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:48 -0600

40-year-old Ibrahima Diallo has been farming in Patte D'Oie for half his life. He concedes, though, that he doesn't invest in his land as much as he could, because of the looming fear that the government will take away his fields, as it did those of neighboring farmers to construct a freeway. "I cannot tell you when, but I have a strong feeling that sooner or later this area is going to disappear."

Fertile Farmland

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:06 -0600

An estimated 3 tons of lettuce are produced every day on the remaining farms of Patte D'Oie. Farmers call it the best place in the country to cultivate, thanks to its high water table and proximity to markets. Hundreds of men young and old sow, plant, water, and fertilize the fields. Hundreds more women arrive daily to harvest the vegetables and carry them to markets and produce stands across the city.

Urban Farmland Today

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:00 -0600

In the foreground, construction and building material for new housing. In the background, 5-year-old highway and apartment buildings on former farmland. Middleground: 12 hectares of farmland, officially protected by presidential decree but shrinking nonetheless.

Urban Farmland, 1969-2005

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:06 -0600

In 1969, the Niayes of Patte D’Oie, the only farmland within Dakar's borders, occupied 136 hectares (dotted red line). In 2001, it was reduced to 80 hectares (yellow line). In 2005, it was down to 12 hectares, or 30 acres (green line). "One prefers not to forecast" the future of Patte D'Oie, says urban farming expert Seydou Niang. Because "if this rhythm continues, next year there will be no more Niayes of Patte D’Oie."

"Land belongs to the state. And the state is the people."

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:06 -0600

Ibrahima Diame is the borough president and native of Patte d'Oie, a neighborhood containing the last remaining farmland within Dakar, protected by presidential decree. In the 11 months Diame has been in office, he has issued three arrest warrants for developers who claimed authorization to construct on protected farmland. Two of those authorizations were fraudulent, the third was signed by a higher government official. “It is not my understanding that people have to be kicked off their land for the benefit of those who can pay for it to come and make money by constructing buildings.”

"Is this what you call development?"

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:03 -0600

Words of Mariam Sow, coordinator of the environmental protection department at ENDA, a Dakar-based NGO that has worked extensively on rural development issues in Senegal for four decades, in reference to the growth of Dakar. "Urbanization does not just mean erecting buildings and they are going in all directions. Is this what we want to do?"