Agriculture in Senegal
[1] Moreover, the effects of climate change in Senegal are expected to severely harm the agricultural economy due to extreme weather such as drought, as well as increased temperatures.
Peanuts, sugarcane, and cotton are important cash crops, and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables are grown for local and export markets.
The Casamance region, isolated from the rest of Senegal by Gambia, is an important agriculture producing area, but without the infrastructure or transportation links to improve its capacity.
In the nineteenth century, Islam became increasingly prevalent across the country, largely due to the work of Cheikh Amadou Bamba Mbacke (1853-1927), the founder of the Mourridiyya, which to this day remains one of the most popular and economically influential Sufi orders of Senegal.
[4] The discipline of labour in conjunction with religiously inspired work ethic were the integral tenets of the formation which came to foster these intensely community-oriented agricultural spaces.
Colonial French policies combatting economic uncertainty in the late 19th century advocated the development of peanut cultivation as a cash-crop.
Peanut, a widely useful resource for its culinary as well as oil-based purposes, initially expanded in a distinct area of West-Central Senegal.
The 1910 growth of the peanut basin is widely attributed to a greater proximity of relations between Amadou Bamba Mbakke, and the French colonial administration.
Initially suspicious of one another, the French realised that Shaykh Bamba posed little political threat and was more interested in religious and spiritual development of the people.
The French began to collaborate with Mouride leadership, enlisting their widespread popular support to expand the workforce of the speculative peanut investment markets and production.
The daaras, pioneer agricultural-spiritual groups, were encouraged to spread throughout the Terres Neuves, clearing forest and engaging in the French mono-cropping agricultural policy.
[6] The Islamisation of Senegal thus went alongside the French colonial agricultural policies where peanut prices were dependent on an uncertain global market.
[1] The government of Senegal is committed to participating in the U.S. government-funded West Africa Cotton Improvement Program (WACIP) in support of activities that focus on crop diversification and value-added processing.
Production of cereal food crops, such as rice, millet, corn and sorghum - which is often grown in rotation with peanuts - does not meet Senegal's needs.
Climate change in Senegal is likely to result in reduced yields of key crops, including sorghum and millet, placing pressure on rural livelihoods.
This company is considering extending its market share through the establishment of a new agro-industrial plant in Taredji, northern Senegal which will produce triple concentrate from fresh tomatoes.
[1] The overall potential of the horticultural sector is limited by the presence of various pests (including fruit and white flies), and therefore needs technical assistance to develop in-country SPS capacity for meeting international standards, and infrastructure to increase the efficiency of surveillance and compliance.
Despite a significant livestock population, Senegal remains a net importer of meat, especially live sheep during periods of peak consumption (major religious holidays and events).
Non governmental organizations and donors assist small rural milk producers to improve the distribution systems and increase their capacity to access urban markets.
In this perspective, PAPEL, the government's main livestock and dairy development project has rehabilitated the rural milk collection network set up by Nestlé-Senegal in 1991 in the sylvo-pastoral zone.
[1] The poultry industry has been increasing its overall production since the announcement in 2005 of the ban of imports of chicken meat and despite the shock created in early 2006 by avian influenza.
This has prompted the creation of poultry farmers' unions who claimed the loss of 3,000 to 5,000 jobs, and the government decision to ban imports of frozen chicken in October 2005.
The Government of Senegal and local environmental organizations have also expressed concerns about the possible permanent ecological damage caused by the more sophisticated and efficient EU fleets.
This crisis is reported to be one of the main causes of clandestine emigration from Senegal's major fishing communities to Europe over the last two years with the death of hundreds of young people, mostly fishermen.
However, operation of the upstream dam has also reduced annual floods along the floodplain, where an ancient and productive form of recessional irrigation has been practiced for hundreds of years.
As the floods retreat each year, a variety of crops (including millet, sorghum, rice, and vegetables) are sown, and they grow and mature quickly.
But because rainfall has been lower in Guinea in 2006, the water table of the Senegal River and its effluents was at a critical level and comparable to a dry year as of early 2007.
[1] The impact of the liberalization has been limited because peanuts still dominate the market; integrated extension, input distribution, credit, and marketing support systems contribute in boosting productivity, especially cash crops and government promoted new crops; yet, support to farmers is costly and inefficient, particularly because the government responds more to political pressure than to economically motivated schemes; literacy programs are not devoted due attention in rural areas, and this limits the efficiency of extension and farm-level adoption of technologies, and therefore farmers capacity to respond to market dynamics.
The objective of this program was to develop agricultural infrastructure (construction of rural roads, rehabilitation of wells, and connection to electricity) and provide training and production tools and equipment to young and women farmers, especially former clandestine emigrants.
The pilot phase of the program started in August 2006 with a planned conclusion in December 2008, and during this period the government aimed to implement 550 production sites.
