POLICY DIVERSITY, INCREASED RELIANCE ON IMPORTS

Senegal’s food supply is heavily dependent on imports. In addition, various policies are conducted by the regimes to ensure food security. This is what emerged from the study on the state of food policies presented yesterday, Friday, September 10, through a webinar organized by CICODEV-Africa.

The Pan-African Institute for Citizenship, Consumers and Development (CICODEV-Africa), in partnership with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (Afsa), held a webinar yesterday, Friday, September 10, for the restitution of a study on the state of food policies in Senegal. According to Professor Ibrahima Sall, from the Department of Geography at Cheikh Anta Diop University (Ucad) in Dakar, who conducted the survey, there are several policies, programs and projects to achieve food security in our country. There is also a high dependence on food imports. The survey also showed that the incidence of Covid-19 could jeopardize the food system. Thus, to contain the impact of Covid-19, the state is implementing food system resilience strategies. Organized around the agro-silvicultural and fisheries value chain, the system is marked by profound changes in eating habits directly linked to urbanization. The countryside is adopting the consumption patterns of the city, with a predominance of rice that is supplanting local cereals. Production remains uncertain and is dependent on rainfall variations.

AN EXTROVERTED FOOD SUPPLY THAT IS HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON IMPORTS

Better still, the study notes, 53% of household spending is reserved for food. 37% of this food budget is used to buy cereals and bread. 8.6% is for animal proteins, such as meat. 12% of this budget is reserved for the purchase of vegetables. 9% is used for the consumption of fish. Family farms, on the other hand, are weakened by land insecurity and the development of agribusiness. Agricultural land is heavily degraded. The study also shows a lack of coherence in agricultural policies and an extroverted consumption pattern, with a preference for imported products. In addition, food policies are strongly marked by the loss of export policies and a refocusing on food security. There are also policies inspired by sub-regional strategies, but also the multiplication of special programs. Senegal’s agricultural and food policies continue to suffer from a lack of coherence, which is perceptible at the level of the agricultural sector and its sub-sectors. Crop production receives priority attention, to the detriment of livestock and fisheries, without meeting a specific policy objective. Among the shortcomings, there is also a lack of integration of the various actors, and the individualism that characterizes the game of the actors, due to strong financial pressures.

1,984,531 TONS OF CEREALS IMPORTED IN 2018, WORTH 210 BILLION, COMPARED TO 207.1 BILLION IN 2017

Senegalese food is heavily dependent on imports. In 2018, Senegal imported 1,984,531 tons of cereals distributed as follows: 50% concerning rice, with 997,280 tons, 30% of wheat, that is 604,498 tons and the 20% of corn and millet cereals. The monetary value of imports, in 2018, is 210 billion against 207.1 billion F Cfa in 2017. Cereal production, which covers 68.6 of needs, is estimated at 2,909,307 tons in 2018, a gap of 1,000,000 tons. This attests to the subordination to imports. After all these findings, the author of the study did not fail to make recommendations. They are, among others, the strengthening of the will and commitment of political authorities to put food at the heart of territorial and local development strategies, the analytical mapping of actors and their roles in the food system at the national level, the strengthening of interventions and interactions between stakeholders and the promotion of strong value chains based on a systemic approach and the strengthening of inter-sectoral relationships.

Fatou NDIAYE

Source:http://www.sudonline.sn/ of September 11, 2021

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