Senegal - Agriculture

The agricultural sector occupies the largest percentage of the population, employing 60 percent of the Senegalese labor force. The sector includes farming, livestock husbandry, fishing, and forestry. It accounts for about 19 percent of the country's GDP. The most important agricultural activity in Senegal is peanut production. Other important primary products produced for the domestic market include millet, corn, sorghum, rice, cotton, tomatoes, green vegetables, cattle, poultry, pigs, and fish. Besides peanuts, primary exports include fish and cotton.

With agricultural production playing such a dominant role in the Senegalese economy, the country is susceptible to destructive natural forces such as declining rainfall and desertification . Countries that rely heavily on agriculture are similarly vulnerable, but the problems are particularly severe in Senegal, a semi-arid country in which rainfall can vary considerably from year to year. Moreover, only 12 percent of all land is arable (capable of supporting agriculture). The prices of agricultural commodities in the international market are similarly dependent upon natural forces. If there were to be heavy rainfall in all peanut-producing countries, the international supply of peanuts would be high, leading to a decrease in the international price for peanuts because of the abundant supply. Since it is impossible to predict the situation in any given year, fluctuating prices are a constant threat and source of insecurity for agricultural nations like Senegal.

Groundnut production takes up 42 percent of all cultivated land, providing income for more than 1 million people. Each year, Senegal produces thousands of metric tons of peanuts, with output depending on rainfall. In 1990, about 703,000 metric tons were produced, while output in 1997 was much less at 545,000 metric tons. Senegalese research authorities found oscillating patterns of rainfall over a 40-year period on the groundnut basin. In 1989 the level of rainfall was 7,785 millimeters (30.9 inches), while in 1999 it was only 507 millimeters (20 inches). Furthermore, the sector continues to suffer from a shrinking market, with world demand for peanuts showing a steady decline. Production is also being affected by natural environmental factors, such as soil depletion. Exports of peanut products provided US$20 million in income in 1994.

The Senegalese government has made efforts to reduce dependence on groundnuts by diversifying cash and food crops, by expanding cotton, rice, sugar, and market-garden produce. While the output of each crop has risen sharply over the past 20 years, the annual average output of rice (150,000 tons) fails to meet even domestic demand, which runs at about 500,000 tons. Since rice is the major staple of the urban population, Senegal is forced to import rice from abroad, mostly from the Far East. Several small and medium-sized development projects, supported by foreign aid, were adopted throughout the 1990s to increase the area of irrigated land that is needed to grow rice. The traditional food sector, which consists of millet, sorghum and maize, has increased its overall output since the mid-1970s, though fluctuations because of the level of rainfall are the norm.