Senegal and IFAD: Blastoff €27.8 Million Programme to Augment Food Security and Smallholder Farmers’ Resilience Senegal

By Abdul Rahman Bangura-

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone– Irrespective of Senegal’s economy being primarily founded on agriculture, Senegal sticks around as a net importer of nutrition products due to population growth and urbanization. A recent program seeks to make better national food and nutrition security and strengthen smallholder farmers’ resilience to external shocks, such as global price volatility, trade restrictions, and inflation, as Senegal’s dependency on food imports upsurge. The financial agreement to fund the Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) was just inscribed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Senegal, with a total cost of €27.8 million.

The FSRP aspires to reach 600,000 participants, comprising small-scale producers and processors, members of producer organizations, and micro, small, and medium-sized agricultural enterprises. In Senegal, the agricultural sector helps 62% of the rural population and hires over 38% of the total workforce.

“The FSRP is a holistic programme that addresses all dimensions of resilience to external shocks and various aspects of food insecurity, agricultural production, research, commercialization, public policy, and financing. This is an important project for the government of Senegal because by addressing these different dimensions, it targets the underlying causes of food crises, helping to prevent food insecurity on a regional scale,” let out Matteo Marchisio, IFAD Country Director for Senegal.

“IFAD’s financing will specifically focus on enhancing national food and nutrition security, and the resilience of smallholder farmers. Particularly, IFAD’s contribution will aim to strengthen the capacities of producers’ organizations to adopt climate-smart and agroecological practices and technologies,” he added.

The FSRP strives to bolster the resilience of food systems, enhance the sustainability and adaptability of the productive base of food systems, and facilitate the integration of the food market in the region. While the project will be carried out nationwide, it will mostly concentrate on the western region, the Niayes region, and the southern region of Senegal.

The FSRP aligns with the three strategic objectives of the Country Strategic Opportunities Programme (COSOP) 2019-2024: (i) to sustainably increase the production, productivity, and profitability of family farms within modernized value chains; (ii) to strengthen the professional capacities of actors in the value chains, including farmers’ organizations, small rural enterprises, and microenterprises; and (iii) to strengthen national and subregional partnerships for scaling up good practices and implementing pro-poor policies in rural areas.

The FSRP literally pitches into Sustainable Development Goals: SDG1 (ending poverty), SDG2 (zero hunger), SDG5 (gender equality), SDG8 (promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all), SDG12 (responsible consumption and production), SDG13 (climate action), and SDG17 (partnerships for the goals).

Since 1979, IFAD has funded 22 rural development programmes and projects in Senegal, with a total investment of $1,378 million, of which $397 million was delivered by IFAD. These ambitions have instantly benefited 667,643 rural households, emphasizing IFAD’s long-standing obligation to enhance rural livelihoods in Senegal.

New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports, Africa Correspondent