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afrol News, 21 March - Senegalese farmers again prove good economists, quickly responding to the fall in groundnut prices. While the harvest of peanuts, the country's main cash crop, generally has been good, revenues still were marginal. Cultivators now turn to safer crops, assuring food security. In fact, there is nothing new to the Senegalese farmers' response, constantly swinging between cash-producing groundnuts and food safety providing cereals, such as millet, sorghum and maize. When prices go down, rural households can best assure their livelihood by growing food crops. This year, however, the situation is somewhat special as it seems that harvests all over the Sahel have been too good. Senegal alone anticipates a production of over 1.2 million tonnes this year. Groundnut prices have however dropped three years in a row due to global over-production and a declining demand. Senegal has further experienced a problematic reorganisation of the entire groundnut sector, following instructions from the World Bank and the IMF. Sonagraines, a state-owned company organising most of the collection and transportation of the nuts, was forced to close down in November to allow for a development of private alternatives. These private alternatives are still mostly non-existent four months after, when the groundnut harvests are off the fields and awaiting sale. Farmers are confused on how to market their products and there are reports of transport operators exploiting the situation by buying up groundnut stocks at discount prices. Both farmers and the opposition have loudly criticised the decision to close down Sonagraines. President Abdoulaye Wade has been forced to say he acted on orders from the World Bank and IMF, two institutions dominated by the US. The US, the world's biggest groundnut producer, has seen its farmers being hit hard by international competition and the resulting price cuts. Following reports from Senegal, farmers now have had it with groundnuts. Fields usually set aside for this cash crop are now being prepared for alternative crops. In the Tambacounda zone, the area set aside for maize alone is said to have tripled. This follows a sharp rise in maize production during this harvest, which is changing its traditional role as a subsistence crop into becoming a cash crop. Other food crops and cotton also are set to grow in importance. The Senegalese production of maize is estimated at between 50.000 and 60.000 tonnes yearly, while national demands lies at 80.000 tonnes. The gap is so far filled by imports. Maize production also profits from fixed prices and an operative collective collecting and transporting the harvest.
Sources: Based on press reports, IMF, FAO and afrol archives
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