Adéane (Ziguinchor), May 24 (APS) – The government of Senegal intends to install an Agropole in each department, in the next five years, to further create value, employment and wealth, declared Thursday, in Adéane (Ziguinchor), the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Serigne Guèye Diop.
”So far we are talking about Agropoles of the south, north, east, west and center. We are going to do forty-five in the next five years. First eight in the eight poles of our political project and then in the 14 regional capitals and in the forty-five departments,” declared the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Serigne Guèye Diop spoke during his visit to Agropole Sud, in Adéane, in the department of Ziguinchor, in the presence of Governor Mor Talla Tine and the director of Agropole Sud, Djily Lo.
“This Agropole Sud is a model that will serve as a test for us. And the objective is to create value, employment and wealth in Casamance and in Senegal in general,” underlined the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
“This Agropole is extremely important in the context of the policy that the Head of State wants to implement for the next five years,” said the minister, who maintains that the potential of Casamance is “almost limited” in terms of industry. .
”For fifty years, there has been no progress in the field of industry in Casamance. The role of industry is to transform products with high added value,” he recalled.
Serigne Guèye Diop says he is impressed by the progress made in cashew nut cultivation in Casamance, noting the benefits that producers can derive from it.
According to him, “the cashew nut that we sell today at 700 CFA francs per kilogram can produce, if it is processed, a value of ten thousand CFA francs to fifteen thousand CFA francs”.
”To do this, we must create Agropoles in each department. The government will create in each department an Agropole of this nature which will have an industrial component for the processing of local products,” insisted the Minister of Commerce and Industry, recalling that within the framework of the Agropole Sud, mango and cashew nuts are flagship products of Casamance.
”We are not going to stop at these plant-based products. We will add animal products such as poultry and cattle breeding,” promised Mr. Diop.
“We want to fix the young people of Casamance. There is no reason why young people from such a beautiful, agricultural and green region should leave to find work somewhere or commit suicide by going to Europe. We want to create thousands and thousands of jobs in Casamance,” said the minister.
MNF/OID/ASB
 – Senegalese press agency){kind=link}