Cultiver les Territoires Episode 01
For a political agroecology in Senegal
With Mariam Sow Interview by Patrick Bottazzi
- 44 min
- 20 September 2026
- In French
- Bey Diiwaan
Chapters 22
- 0:00 Teaser
- 1:01 Introduction: Mariam Sow and "Loumbi Nguido, la paysanne"
- 2:56 A life at the heart of peasant organisations
- 4:44 The commons: land, water, the shared meal
- 7:34 Weakened commons and land grabbing
- 10:51 Making agroecology a political project
- 13:24 Land for young people rather than multinationals
- 14:57 Peasant knowledge and scientific knowledge
- 16:47 Agroecology, an African peasant agriculture
- 17:27 Chemical fertilisers and exhausted soils
- 19:31 Producing fertility locally
- 21:21 Sovereignty over fertility and seeds
- 22:49 The role of DyTAES
- 25:07 The territory, a lever for food self-sufficiency
- 29:01 Women and the world of development projects
- 32:12 Women and decision-making power
- 34:42 "Women's empowerment" in question
- 35:17 A school rooted in local territories
- 36:01 The state and agroecology: double talk or coherence?
- 39:25 Communities must hold policymakers to account
- 42:12 A message to leaders
- 42:49 Closing words
The episode
Mariam Sow saw the birth of many of Senegal’s peasant organisations, and helped bring several of them into being. Speaking with Patrick Bottazzi in the CREATES studio in Ngaparou, she discusses her book Loumbi Nguido, la paysanne, at once a life story, a history of peasant struggles and a reflection on the future of rural territories.
From her childhood in the Fouta, where “everything is considered a common good”, to land grabbing around Mbour, she holds a firm conviction: agroecology cannot remain confined to individual fields. It has to become a political vision, one that addresses land distribution, financing, soil fertility, seeds, youth employment and the place of women in decision-making.
She also questions a discourse on “women’s empowerment” shaped without women, and calls on communities to challenge their elected officials so that territories can design their own transformation.
The conversation is in French.
« I am looking for those leaders. I don't know if I will find them, but that is what we need. »
Topics covered
- Agroecology
- Commons
- Land
- Peasant knowledge
- Soil fertility
- Seeds
- Women and power
- Public policy
- Territories
Our guest
Mariam Sow
One of the leading voices of peasant movements and agroecology in Senegal. She helped bring many peasant organisations into being and recounts this journey in "Loumbi Nguido, la paysanne".
Cultiver les Territoires