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publié dans Ressources le 31 octobre 2022

Current statute of agricultural mechanization in Senegal: Case of the groundnut basin (rainfed cultivation zone)

Revue AMA (Agricultural Mechanization in Asia, Africa and Latin America)

Mécanisation - MotorisationSénégalArticle scientifique

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African agriculture suffers from under-mechanization which results in the absorption of a large part of the active population for yields that do not take off despite all the programs put in place in the different countries. The low level of use of inputs and poorly adapted equipment are cited among the main constraints to the development of the sector. The labor productivity gap between manual agriculture and the most motorized agriculture in the world is today of the order of 1 to 2000 in gross productivity and 1 to 500 more in net productivity. Senegal has a long history of agricultural mechanization, both in terms of motorized equipment for the production and processing of products and in terms of animal traction. However, many attempts to introduce motorized agriculture have been made in sub-Saharan Africa. Many governmental and non-governmental projects have tried for many years and without much success to adapt motorized equipment on African family farms, while a number of countries have made agricultural mechanization a preferred means of transforming agrarian structures, which has also failed. In recent years, the Senegalese government has implemented a policy of supporting producers in the acquisition of agricultural equipment. Elements of this policy include tax exemption for agricultural equipment, and 40 percent state subsidies for the purchase of agricultural equipment. Analysis of the trajectory of farms in Senegal shows that animal traction is the most widely adopted technology. Motorized agricultural equipment is often acquired as part of support for the agricultural policies in place and is intended for large producers. Motorization mainly concerns rice cultivation in the irrigated areas of the Senegal River valley and the Anambé basin, followed by high value-added crops in the Niayes area.

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