Senegalese farmers are worried this year: 72 hours after the start of the peanut marketing campaign, producers expect enormous losses in terms of turnover. On the State side, we want to be reassuring: the production of the country’s first agricultural harvest is more than sufficient and could even be exported.
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With our correspondent in Dakar, Birahim Toure
The poor quality of seeds distributed by the State, a long absence of rain. These are two of the main reasons given by farmers to explain a halving of their turnover in 2024, according to their projections.
“ Last year’s figures, according to the Directorate of Analysis, Forecasting and Agricultural Statistics (Dapsa), production was estimated at 1.5 million tonnes. For this year, the public authorities have estimated it at between 700 and 800,000 tonnes, which remains to be confirmed. The consequences, for us as producers, are the drastic drop in our income that is expected. », underlines Sidy Ba, member of the Framework for Consultation of Agricultural Producers (CCPA) and the National Council for Consultation and Cooperation of Rural People (CNCR).
Officially, no fear
The Directorate of Agricultural Analysis, Forecasting and Statistics has not yet released official figures and wants to be reassuring: there is no need to fear for the peanut campaign.
El hadj Ndane Diagne, general director of the National Oilseed Marketing Company of Senegal (Sonacos) ensures that the publication of the figures will be done in a transparent manner: “ We have lived through many years where we were given figures that were never confirmed by actual productions. For the current year, Dapsa has worked on much more real figures. The ministry confirms to us that these forecasts fully cover the seed needs for the coming year, the needs of oil mills and there will be an extra for possibly exporters. »
This year, the government increased the purchase price of a kilo of peanuts, from 280 to 305 CFA francs.
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