SIAT (Société d’Investissement pour l’Agriculture Tropicale) is a Belgian group of agro-industrial companies specializing in the creation and management of oil palm and rubber plantations, as well as related and downstream processing industries. Founded and controlled by the Belgian businessman Pierre Vandebeeck, SIAT was incorporated under Belgian law in 1991.
In Belgium, SIAT holds an 81% stake in Deroose Plants. In West Africa, it is present in Nigeria, Gabon, Ghana and Ivory Coast. This article aims to put SIAT in the domain of the public court to determine whether the presence of SIAT is a vehicle of development for the host communities or an instrument of impoverishment.
In Côte d’Ivoire as in other African countries, the land issue is...