The Discouraged Peasants Pauperization And Social Inequality Among Guinean Farmers And Cattle Breeders

In Guinea, many socio-economical factors lead farmers and cattle breeders to leave agriculture and seek social promotion through other activities, often requiring mobility towards towns. This article analyses some causes of deagrarization, such as the cyclic poverty produced by an extensive agriculture using archaic methods, the conflicts between cattle-breeders and farmers, the peasants’ hard living and working conditions, worsened by the Ebola epidemics. The urban relatives of Guinean farmers play an ambivalent role, acting as the support of the family in difficult economic situations, but also taking possession of family lands and nurturing relationships based on dependence. The land sale is seen as an opportunity to exit from agriculture, but often leads farmers to pauperization and social exclusion, in a context of increasing social inequalities even within the joint family or the village.