Bilateral meeting with H.E. Mabouba Diagne, Minister for Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock of the Republic of Senegal

Rome - On the margins of the 29th Session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG), at the FAO Headquarters, the Director-General met with His Excellency Mabouba Diagne, Minister for Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock of the Republic of Senegal.

The Director-General welcomed and congratulated the Minister on his recent appointment and conveyed his appreciation for the support of the Republic of Senegal to the organization over the years. He further thanked the government of Senegal for the close collaboration, especially with regard to addressing the impacts of the climate crisis on agrifood systems.

The Minister thanked the Director-General for the opportunity to meet and stated that he looked forward to working closely on priority issues. In this regard, the Minister referred to the important work of FAO globally, as well as nationally in Senegal. The Minister further stated that as Senegal’s food import is more than USD 2 billion, it is pivotal for the government of Senegal to work together with key technical and financial partners, such as FAO and the World Bank, to progress forward with self-sufficiency.

The Minister highlighted that to ensure agrifood system transformation in Senegal, it is critical that the rural communities in Senegal be strengthened through cooperatives at the community level. He further stated that it is important to support and empower commercial farmers at the community level to change the economic and agriculture trajectory in Senegal.  In this regard, the Minister once again recognized the important role and work of FAO as a strategic and supportive partner of Senegal, noting that the country continued to count on FAO’s support, especially in the area of mechanization which was a key factor for development of the agriculture sector. He also referred to post harvest loss and waste due to lack of storage that creates huge food insecurity for the country.

The Director-General highlighted the important need for the Ministry of Agriculture to work in close  collaboration with local government authorities in Senegal to train youth and local farmers to build future modern farmers and to train local community leaders to coordinate smallholder farmers. He reiterated FAO’s commitment to continue to support Senegal through initiatives like OCOP. He further advised Senegal to present their investment priority projects to the FAO Investment Centre, and he reiterated the Organization’s commitment to continue providing all the technically support needed.