The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group approved a loan of €39.30 million to the government of Senegal on Friday, December 16, 2022, to implement the first phase of the National Project to Support the Integrated Development of Livestock.
The project will support the national health and veterinary prophylaxis policy. It will support the national launch of five vaccination campaigns against animal diseases. It will also support the development of a bivalent vaccine against Newcastle disease and avian smallpox.
The funding will also rehabilitate regional diagnostic laboratories in Kaolack, Linguère, Matam, Tambacounda, Kédougou and Kolda and equip them with modern equipment. Thirty agents will receive training in the national epidemiological surveillance system and an additional 75 agents will be trained in the control of food of animal origin.
Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, Acting Vice President of the African Development Bank Group in charge of Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery, said:“This program will identify and implement the necessary synergies with the projects of the Special Agroindustrial Processing Zone, especially the Agropolis Norte project, in which the livestock sector is a priority. The main objective is to improve livestock production and productivity for a better supply both in terms of quantity and quality of meat and milk for future industrial units.”
The program will increase the availability of quality plant biomass by supporting ten producers of certified forage seeds. In Nguékhokh (Mbour department) a 50-hectare fodder production farm will be created for the incubation of young people and women and another 100 hectares will be set up for fodder entrepreneurs. The program also provides for the construction of 20 fodder densification and compaction units for young people and women, as well as 20 livestock and poultry feed manufacturing units.
The program will also promote innovative production models, with the creation of 30 mini-dairy farms equipped with a biodigester for the recovery of animal waste through the production of biogas, as well as 12 modern cattle fattening platforms (centers equipped with facilities for fattening lean animals destined for slaughter). A line of credit will be established to support sheep fattening, breeding sheep breeding, dairy farming and pig farming. Lastly, three livestock markets and three mini-slaughterhouses and packing houses will be built and equipped. The project will train 2,500 meat processors (butchers, delicatessens, grills) in sanitary standards and in the production of various items (hams, sausages, pastries).
The project intervention areas include Diourbel, Louga, Kaolack, Kolda, Dakar, Thiès, Fatick, Kaffrine, Sédhiou and Ziguinchor, where the focus will be on the milk, meat and honey value chains. Some 32,000 value chain actors will benefit, including 16,000 women and youth.
As of July 31, 2022, the active portfolio of the African Development Bank Group in Senegal included 29 operations, with total financing of €2.3 billion.
