The agro-industries of the metropolitan interface linking Dakar, Thies and Mbour: Land stakes and territorial development
The peri-urban areas of large African cities are experiencing a number of agricultural mutations. These areas are integrated into the market economy through a production system oriented towards meeting urban demand. The rural periphery of the metropolitan area of Dakar is at the core of these new investment dynamics, which are controlled by the agro-industries. This article analyzes the logic of the implementation of agro-industrial units, the spatial strategies that have been developed as a result, as well as their impact on communities and the environment. Our central hypothesis is built around an emerging agricultural system rooted in a capitalist exploitation of the local resources, which is upsetting the economic and social organization of the local population, and its relationship with place. We conducted a qualitative analysis of the data collected in 2015 and 2017 with the agro-industries and the local population. The diverse agro-industries are developing territorial strategies that are inscribed in a dynamic of world production, which is more or less integrated to the local metropolitan demand.