In Senegal, the milk sector at the heart of “food sovereignty” defended by the authorities

In local shops in Senegal, milk is at the top of the aisle. It is sold in powder, in bottles, in bricks or in small plastic bags. The packaging of many brands incorporates symbols of the country: thin zebus with a slight hump and shepherds wearing a “tengade”the hat of the Fulani shepherds. However, many of the contents are not produced using local milk. Over the past ten years, between 60 and 70% of needs have been met through imports.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Senegal spends at least 65 billion CFA francs (nearly 100 million euros) each year to import the equivalent of 300 million liters of milk, mainly from the European Union (EU). ). Figures below reality, according to several researchers interviewed by The World. Mabouba Diagne, Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock, says he wants to reverse the trend. “On the road to milk self-sufficiency!” “, he said in a press release on January 10, while he was visiting Uganda to discover the country’s experience in this area.

“Milk has become a bit of a symbolexplains Oumar Sow, breeder in the Dakar region. It is consumed in a traditional way and the need has increased with urbanization. However, the dependence on imports is enormous. » He produces several dozen liters every day, which he gets from four cows from France who have acclimatized to Senegal. The State helped him acquire these cattle. Today, he is trying to buy the machines to pasteurize his own milk and sell it directly to supermarkets. “But it is difficult to invest, he said. Fodder is already very expensive and seems to eat up all the money…”

The country’s new leaders, who place food sovereignty at the forefront of their promises, do not fail to communicate on the milk sector, a seemingly technical subject. “I am for increasing taxes on imported milk,” declared Mabouba Diagne on January 10 in the pages of the public newspaper The Sun. In the minister’s sights, the famous “MGV milk powders” (vegetable fat), milk substitutes obtained by a mixture of skimmed milk and vegetable fat, often palm oil, which cost around 30% less expensive than local milk. They represent 40% of dairy product imports in West Africa.

“Milk will run out, but we will get through it”

“These imports prevent investment in the dairy sector,” denounces Ousmane Ndiaye, president of the dairy inter-professional committee of Senegal, who advised the minister to return to the common external tariff (TEC) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which taxes ” only “ at 5% powdered milk from abroad. The professional is all the more alarmed that discussions between the EU and ECOWAS regularly envisage the removal of customs duties for milk powders.

Get rid of the TEC? The question divides specialists. Serigne Moussa Dia, professor of economics at Alioune-Diop University, is in favor: “We will not be able to build a strong sector with such competition,” he believes. Famara Sarr, head of the milk office at the Ministry of Agriculture, is more cautious: “Before questioning international commitments, we must structure the sector”he said, proposing that“a portion of taxes on imports be reinvested in the dairy sector”.

“We must help professionals store and transport milk, process surpluses produced during the rainy season, cross-breed low-producing local animals with foreign breeds, provide veterinary services and, above all, develop fodder production,” continues Famara Sarr. Mabouba Diagne assumes the possibility of a breakup: “We will experience moments of transition and milk will run out. But we’ll get through this.”declared the minister Soleil.

Dairy sector players have already won some political battles in recent years. In 2019, in order to exempt producers from VAT on pasteurized milk, the government moved barely processed milk to the category of unprocessed agricultural products. A battle led among others by Bagoré Bathily, founder and boss of Laiterie du Berger. The latter, which sold more than 3 million liters produced locally in 2024, has acquired a certain reputation, a sign that the subject is of interest beyond just professionals.

“Senegal has know-how, a history of breeding, from the north of the country to Casamance. It can succeed in the challenge of dairy sovereignty”wants to believe Famara Sarr.