Youla, a young farmer, and his brother have fallen victim to the loss of their farmland, which they have been cultivating together for generations.
On this one-hectare plot, they grew pineapples, cucumbers, Melina trees, cassava, and over 220 cashew trees.
"Just from our 220 cashew trees, we harvest a yield of 1,000,000 Guinean francs," Youla explained. "But one day, we were informed that there would be construction work in the area, including the building of access roads."
"A few days later, the backfilling work began. Once the land was filled in and the road was laid out, water could no longer flow. It flooded and took over our fields."
"In light of the damage, we were compensated 3,800,000 Guinean francs. This compensation is insufficient in view of what we have lost and what it brought us."
“One morning, without any prior discussion or sensitization, the companies came to us with contracts to sign, the contents of which we were unaware of, putting pressure on us. They told us, 'Whether you sign or not, we already have the government's approval, and we will do what we have to do.' So we had no choice.”
“What they paid us is insufficient, but we have no choice but to accept it because the state is stronger than us and is on the side of the company. Today, we want to be compensated at its fair value, to live differently and decently with our wives and children, because we inherited these lands from generation to generation from our ancestors, through our grandparents, to whom these lands belonged and were passed down from father to son. But with the current situation, it is the future of our children that is mortgaged.”
As of today, we intend to form an association to better defend ourselves and our rights against Wining. Before, with Rio, they were underhanded, which is not the case with Wining."
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