By Nelson Manneh
For years, families living along The Gambia’s border with Senegal have cultivated the same fields without interruption. Many of those farms have been passed down through generations, with land stretching across an international boundary that local communities have long crossed freely for farming, trade and family visits. This rainy season, however, many of those fields have been left uncultivated.
Across several border communities in the West Coast and Central River regions, farmers say they are abandoning land they have prepared for planting because they fear military activity, uncertainty over the international boundary and the possibility of being caught in cross-border security operations.
The concerns have intensified following recent tensions between The Gambia and Senegal over sections of the shared border, including an incident in July 2026 in which Senegalese security personnel crossed into Bullock Village and demolished part of the perimeter fence surrounding a Gambian military post. The incident renewed debate over the need for both countries to clearly demarcate their common boundary.
For many residents, however, the dispute is measured less by diplomacy than by empty fields and lost harvests.
In Foni Gifanga, where many farms lie close to the international boundary and in some cases extend into Senegal’s Casamance region, residents said they have abandoned farmland because of repeated military operations targeting fighters of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC). The operations, they said, have forced farmers to flee their fields whenever armed confrontations occur.
During a visit to the area shortly before the start of the rainy season, Foroyaa found that many fields near the border had already been left unused. Residents said the problem is not simply a territorial disagreement but the growing insecurity created by military operations along the frontier.
For decades, they said, communities on both sides of the border farmed the same land without major disruption. That has changed in recent years as security operations in Casamance have intensified.
Many farmers now said they no longer feel safe working land near the border, fearing they could become caught in military operations or be prevented from accessing their farms altogether.
In Bullock, where recent tensions have focused attention on competing territorial claims, residents said uncertainty over the border has left many questioning whether they should cultivate land already prepared for planting.
Momodou Jarju, a native of Bullock, said agriculture is the community’s main source of livelihood.
“We are therefore calling on both authorities to demarcate the borders,” Jarju said.
He explained that many farms lie beyond the Gambian military post, an area villagers have cultivated for decades.
“If you look at Bullock, all our farmlands are in one area, and that is where the current military post is,” he said.
“We have some lands that are beyond the military post, and we have been farming there for decades. Therefore, if the Senegalese military claims that section, our farmlands beyond the post are automatically being claimed as well.”
Jarju said some farmers have already decided not to cultivate fields close to the disputed area.
Residents said the uncertainty has left families anxious about investing time and money into farms they may later be unable to harvest.
Saffie Colley, another resident of Bullock, said many villagers remain unsure whether to continue farming this season.
“Since we heard this information, we’ve been left confused. Some of us may not farm this year,” Colley said.
Across much of The Gambia’s border with Senegal, families own farmland that lies on both sides of the frontier. Many say this has never prevented them from farming.
In Darsilami, another border community, residents say recent tensions have changed that. Lamin Sanneh said his family’s land overlaps both countries.
“My farmland is right at the border; in fact, part of it is in Senegal and the other in The Gambia,” he said.
“I have been farming there for years without interruption, but this year I feel reluctant to use the land, even after clearing it, because of the ongoing rumors.”
Sanneh said seeing Senegalese soldiers near the border is not unusual because of the area’s location. What has changed, he said, is the uncertainty surrounding access to farmland.
He warned that many farmers now fear investing in crops they may later be forced to abandon. Residents of Darsilami said only a clearly demarcated international boundary would provide certainty for communities whose livelihoods depend almost entirely on agriculture.
The Gambia and Senegal share a porous border of about 740 kilometres, largely defined by colonial agreements reached by Britain and France in the late nineteenth century. The border cuts through communities that share family ties, languages and farmland, with many villages depending on land located close to, or across, the frontier.
For decades, residents said those arrangements allowed communities on both sides to coexist with relatively few problems. However, recurring military operations linked to the Casamance conflict and recent territorial disagreements have increased uncertainty for border communities. The incident in Bullock has added to concerns among residents who say the lack of a clearly demarcated border leaves villages vulnerable to competing territorial claims.
Reports circulated on social media and The Alkamba Times online newspaper in recent weeks alleged that armed Senegalese gendarmes entered Gambian border communities, including Panchang and Jimbala Kerr Musa, ordering farmers to stop cultivating land claimed by Senegal and to leave the area.
The reported incidents affected farming communities in the Central River Region, where residents said armed officers accompanied by local Senegalese authorities were marking territory and warning farmers against using land their families have cultivated for generations.
The Gambian authorities have since engaged the Joint Military Committee, a bilateral mechanism established to address cross-border security issues, while diplomatic discussions continue between Banjul and Dakar.
The Ministry of Defence has appealed for calm and urged residents to exercise restraint as both countries continue discussions over border delineation and related land issues.
For many farming communities, however, the immediate concern is the approaching harvest season.
Residents in Bullock, Foni Gifanga, Darsilami and other border villages said the uncertainty has already changed this year’s farming season, with some families abandoning fields they have cultivated for generations while waiting for both governments to clearly define where one country ends and the other begins.
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