Feed The Future Senegal Dundël Suuf Project (Quarterly Report October - December 2020)
Abstract
The Government of Senegal (GoS), through the Programme d'Accélération de la Cadence de l'Agriculture Sénégalaise (PRACAS), the Programme National d'Investissement Agricole pour la Sécurité Alimentaire et Nutritionnelle (PNIASAN) and the Plan Sénégal Émergent (PSE), continues to support the agricultural sector through a national program of subsidies for seeds, fertilizers and agricultural equipment with the objective of sustainably increasing production to achieve self-sufficiency in rice, maize, millet, sorghum, onion and potato, and even exporting surpluses of horticultural products. To contribute to the goals of these GoS programs, the USAID/West Africa Regional Mission (WARM) signed, on September 30, 2019, an amendment to the Enhancing Growth through Regional Agricultural Input Systems (EnGRAIS) cooperative agreement to incorporate a buy-in from USAID/Senegal to fund the Feed the Future Senegal Dundël Suuf project for a period of 3 years (October 2019 - September 2022). The aim of Dundël Suuf (DS) is to increase agricultural productivity by promoting an inclusive and sustainable reduction of hunger, poverty and malnutrition while its strategic objective remains to increase the availability and use of new quality fertilizers through efficient private sector-led supply systems to improve and maintain soil fertility in Senegal. The project activities are organized into three major components which are: (1) Improved and appropriate fertilizer formulas developed and made available to farmers, (2) Proven and environmentally sound fertilizer products and technologies disseminated and upscaled, (3) Improved fertilizer policy and regulatory environment. In addition to the major challenges facing by the GoS for the development of agriculture, there is also the global health challenge related to COVID-19. To help the GoS to mitigate the negative effects of this pandemic, IFDC proposed to USAID/Senegal a concept note (CN) on "Food Security Response to COVID-19". The CN focuses on two major axes (1) facilitating the widespread diffusion of the fertilizer technologies that improve the agriculture productivity; (2) Minimizing distortions in the agricultural input supply chain through the Senegal COVID-19 Fertilizer Watch. The main beneficiaries are small farmers, input supply chain actors, extension and research agents and vulnerable groups namely women and youth. The project operates in the five Feed the Future Zones of Influence (ZoIs) which are Casamance, Senegal Oriental, the Peanut Basin, Niayes and the Senegal River Valley. The target crops are dry cereals, rice, and vegetables.
Description
Keywords
Fertilizers, Environment