Association des Jeunes Agriculteurs de Casamance (Casamance Agricultural Youth Association, AJAC-Lukaal)
The future of peasant agriculture depends on youth. An association of youth farmers in Senegal is carrying forward the fight for food sovereignty for the next generation.
Association des Jeunes Agriculteurs de Casamance or the Casamance Agricultural Youth Association (AJAC-Lukaal) is an agroecological movement in the Casamance region of Senegal that is dedicated to remediating the harms caused by large-scale land grabs and cash crops. They invest in rural peasants and strive to help women, gender nonconforming people, and youth build better futures through food sovereignty, agroecology, nutrition, and defense of the Casamance territory.
A key component of this work is encouraging youth to develop small-scale agroecology for the next generation. AJAC-Lukaal prioritizes raising this youth’s consciousness from wanting external food and products to locally-made ones of higher quality. The movement also recognizes the critical role of women and gender nonconforming people in managing ecosystems and works with seed savers, farmers, livestock producers, compost makers, oyster harvesters, and artists in these populations. Through Nous Sommes la Solution (NSS/WAS), AJAC-Lukaal maintains an organizing center that emphasizes liberation through peasant seeds and other community nutrition initiatives.
Through this work, AJAC-Lukaal is challenging neoliberal food systems and patriarchal values in Senegal. They are successfully changing the trajectory of food systems by organizing communities to step up and promote agroecology as a path to food sovereignty.
