Senegal: Making Better Use of Agribusiness Potential

Senegal is a showcase of donors’ support to horticultural export development in sub-Saharan Africa. The first direct donor support to the Senegalese horticultural value chain dates back to 1998, with the World Bank-funded Agricultural Export Promotion Project (PPEA). Early recognition of the need to tackle the whole agricultural value chain, from inputs to production, processing and marketing, characterises donors’ support to the agricultural sector in Senegal. Facing declining traditional export sectors, groundnuts and fishing, Senegal has been undergoing a difficult transition process from traditional to commercial agriculture over the past decade. The 1994 devaluation of the CFA franc has benefited Senegal’s fruit and vegetables sub-sector, which presents the main hope of diversifying the country’s agricultural export structure. Consequently, the primary sector grew annually at an average 6.2 per cent between 2002 and 2005, which was much higher than real annual GDP growth. The chapter shows that aid to the agricultural sector has been proving positive in supporting the Senegalese government’s new sectoral development principle, the Accelerated Growth Strategy (SCA). Senegal has started to attract foreign investment in the export-oriented horticultural sector. Moreover, small and medium-sized horticultural producers and exporters, better organised and more empowered, have succeeded in increasing production and export volume, while simultaneously satisfying the stringent sanitary and phytosanitary requirements of the OECD markets. Today, Senegal’s agriculture faces challenges of expanding targeted products and markets. Donor assistance to Senegalese agriculture has evolved and donors are now applying a differentiated market approach for multiple private actors to work better with agricultural entrepreneurs. Strengthening Senegal’s agricultural potential and diversifying its agricultural production and export profile both horizontally and vertically are the long-term goals for both donors and the country.