Ouonck (Bignona), 20 Sept (APS) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty plans to organize every year a “national agricultural championship”, with the aim of rewarding the best municipalities that have reached a certain level of production, APS learned from an official source on Thursday.
“(…) every year, we will organize a national agricultural championship, and the best mayors will be rewarded,” announced the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.
Speaking during a visit to Ouonck, in the department of Bignona (south), Mabouba Diagne specified that this approach aims to create competition between mayors.
The Minister of Agriculture began a two-day tour of the Ziguinchor region from this commune.
Mabouba Diagne explained that this championship will be an agricultural contract between the mayors and the Minister of Agriculture.
“You tell me, Mr. Minister, I am able to produce so many tons of rice, so many tons of wheat, so many tons of this, so many tons of that. But, in return, I would like you to do this for me,” he said.
The Minister of Agriculture says that this will be an opportunity for his department to create “agricultural emulation” between the different municipalities of the department of Bignona, and even other regions of the country.
In this perspective, he urged the mayors of the department of Bignona to regroup into agricultural, communal, intercommunal and departmental cooperatives.
“I invite the mayors of the surrounding communes to come together and set up an intercommunal cooperative. And if you make me an intercommunal cooperative at the departmental level, I will give you a tractor,” promised Mabouba Diagne.
The Minister of Agriculture was keen to point out, however, that these are subsidised tractors requiring a certain contribution from the beneficiaries.
Mabouba Diagne announced that his department is currently thinking with technical and financial partners about how to position motor cultivators and tractors in the 557 communes of Senegal.
“This means that for the intercommunal, or even departmental, agricultural cooperative, a very well-defined business plan is needed from 2024 to 2029 with objectives, whether for rice growing, peanuts, corn, wheat, etc.”, he said.
“Come together and make a five-year business plan from 2024 to 2029,” Mr. Diagne told the mayors and elected officials of the Bignona department.
According to him, there are three factors for success in agriculture: training, formalization and financing.
“If we have a well-defined business plan, there will be 50,000 ways to finance you, first through programs, the agricultural bank, the DER/FJ, the General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship of Youth and Women, etc.”, he said.
“What is extremely important first is formalization. Get together, make us business plans,” he suggested to the mayors and elected officials of Bignona.
He said that young people today want support for training, financing, formalization and transformation.
During this visit to the Kalounayes, the Minister of Agriculture thanked the youth, women and producers for their welcome.
“Special mention to the women to whom I dedicated this year as part of the agricultural campaign 20% of seeds and fertilizers,” he said. He said he had taken note of the grievances expressed by the local populations.
IM/ASB/ASG
