THE SOUTH HELPS THE SOUTH Redevelopment in Senegal
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Cuts in development aid from governments in the last two years have
not as yet been offset by private sector investments. The EU has
abandoned voluntarism by ending the system created as part of the Lomé
convention, and is now focusing exclusively on opening up new markets.
As a result, countries in the South are now embracing various
bilateral ventures, sometimes with surprising results.
by our special correspondent ROLAND-PIERRE PARINGAUX *
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Perched on the dike of a paddy field, two men wearing green Vietnamese military helmets are watching a row of women methodically planting rice under a blazing sun. The sight may be a familiar one but the setting is thousands of kilometres removed from the Mekong and Red River deltas. We are in the northernmost part of Senegal on an 18-hectare experimental irrigated rice field on the banks of the Senegal River, in the village of Dado in the Podor region. In the last two years, thanks to Vietnamese expertise, adapted seeds, and water management skills, rice harvests have jumped from four to five metric tonnes a hectare in the village plots to seven to eight tonnes per hectare in the pilot fields, with peak harvests reaching nine tonnes (1). With 95 hectares available for cultivation and two harvests a year, the 600 residents of Dado would seem on the verge of prosperity. Yet scarcity is still the watchword.
Hundreds of kilometres away in the Fatick region stands the village of Ndiemou, set in a basin flooded by salty water for four months of the year. The people here use rainfed rice growing techniques, by far the most widely used in Senegal. Two Vietnamese agricultural experts work alongside the villagers, who have been divided into three groups (men, women and children), excavating rudimentary basins on five hectares of canals, dikes and cracked earth.
The lessons are simple and the techniques basic. The villagers learn how to control the water supply, receive instruction on improved sowing methods, and study the storage and selection of adapted rice seeds from among the dozens of available varieties. They also learn how to use the flooded basins for both rice growing and fish farming. Just two years ago the villagers were unfamiliar with these basic and low-cost techniques, despite the massive development aid that Senegal has received over several decades. The small-scale and cost-effective communal projects dikes, canals and floodgates are completed by hand using inexpensive materials. This is a far cry from the 5m CFA francs ($7,000) that a private company would have charged to dig a simple canal using a mechanical shovel.
Ndiemous 1999 rice harvest tells the tale: 25 tonnes, or five tonnes a hectare, a bumper crop. "In the past wed get 700 to 800 kilos per hectare in a good year. Today were almost self-sufficient," says Hassan, president of the village association. In cooperation with Bolivian experts, the village has also acquired galvanised steel storage bins. Built locally, the bins cost between $40 and $80 apiece, depending on capacity. Hassan feels confident that the villagers have learned much from the Vietnamese. The village is also considering developing a further 10 hectares of land and marketing a portion of its harvest. For the time being, however, the residents of Ndiemou and other Senegalese villages do not want the Hanoi experts to leave.
A shining example
The Vietnamese presence in Senegal is a shining example of the cooperation initiative linking countries of the South, organised under the auspices of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as part of its Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS). Launched in 1994, the SPFS aims to reach "800m people in developing countries who have insufficient food for a healthy and active life." Targeting low-income food-deficit countries, the programme aims to assist local populations via rural development schemes and improved crop cultivation methods, giving preference to measures that are environmentally friendly, technically appropriate and economically viable. The SPFS also emphasises "adapted cooperation" which relies on small-scale, low-cost projects, simple techniques and the development of village-level economies.
Senegal was among the first to receive assistance from the SPFS and its South-South cooperation initiative, which now operates in some 40 countries, 23 of which are in Africa. Senegal was an ideal candidate since the FAOs director-general, Dr Jacques Diouf, an agricultural engineer and former government minister, is a native of the country and one third of its population (2.5m people) lives in poverty. In addition, Senegal imports more than 400,000 tonnes of rice annually almost three quarters of its requirements even though the country should have reached self-sufficiency long ago.
For decades the Senegalese government set the agenda for its highly subsidised agricultural policies, which relied on investments in infrastructure and costly hydro-agricultural projects in the Senegal River Valley and the Casamance region. This strategy proved both unsuccessful and unfair. Makane Guisse, an SPFS administrator in Senegal, explained: "The irrigated sectors of the Senegal River and Casamance consumed almost 80% of the funds allocated to rice-growing even though they contain only 16% of the population. However, these sectors never delivered the expected results. At the same time the non-irrigated sector, which represents the majority of the population as well as the bulk of agricultural production, was ignored."
Owing to these agricultural policy failures, it became clear that shifts in priorities were urgently needed. Moreover, as a result of pressures from the World Bank and other lenders, harsh liberalisation measures were imposed on the Senegalese agricultural sector in 1994 as part of a structural adjustment programme. Ruinously expensive projects and "white elephants", high-priced and often unmanageable, imposed from above, are no longer tenable. The current approach is minimalist, focusing on land and inexpensive expert advice.
>From the bottom up
"We know from experience that whatever starts off at the upper level rarely shows up down below, and even when it does, its rarely tailored to village-level needs," says Diouf. "The South-South cooperation initiative aims to reverse this pattern in a cost-effective way by starting from the bottom and influencing upper-level decision-makers, thereby creating a ripple effect in the other sectors."
Nevertheless, certain costly habits must still be eliminated. Diouf makes this point quite clear: "Throughout the world, projects are structured in such a way that 10% to 20% of funds are routinely spent on studies. Its quite common for one country to have dozens of projects on the go, each costing several million dollars. But the results are clear: these programmes dont work. People are still paying for the errors of the past. Senegal is still importing 500,000 tonnes of rice every year after having spent vast sums on assorted ventures. Thats why I refuse to spend my organisations modest budget on expert opinions and wasteful projects!" He refers to Senegals "umpteenth" agricultural study, completed at a cost of $8m, and comments: "In our programme a henhouse costs $15."
Diouf goes on to explain that an expert from the South working for the SPFS earns about $600 a month, whereas international experts, especially those from the West, would be paid between $15,000 and $30,000 25 to 50 times as much. "And for that price, which doesnt include travel expenses, the experts only spend a few days on site (and their nights in air-conditioned hotels). In contrast, the Vietnamese in Senegal live in the villages for up to two years."
In 1997, following the signing of a trilateral agreement between Vietnam, Senegal and the FAO, some 40 Vietnamese agricultural experts were dispatched to Lower Casamance and the Senegal River Valley as part of an SPFS pilot scheme designed to help 60 groups of peasant farmers increase their rice production and overall productivity. In addition, the Vietnamese oversee other projects that, although modest in scope, make the rural families day-to-day lives easier and improve their self-sufficiency. Nor is the language barrier an issue: "Our techniques are easily taught by gesture and example," says Nguyen Duc Thao, chief of the Vietnamese mission in Thies.
Thanks to the support of a local womens association, Dang Van Thang helped rescue a beekeeping operation from bankruptcy in the village of Bandia in the Mbour region. Two hundred and thirty kilos of honey were produced in 1998, compared to one tonne in 1999. The Vietnamese has thus managed to quadruple the production level of the former European owner. The village women applaud Thangs simple techniques and teaching skills. Their eucalyptus honey, which costs 1,000 CFA francs to produce, sells for 3,500 to 4,000 CFA francs. In the village of Kayar, on the Atlantic coast, a group of women are working alongside an expert on a typically Vietnamese project, the production of nuoc mam, a fish sauce. The recipe is simple, and in a country where the staple diet is rice and fish (as it is in Vietnam), the project may well prove profitable.
In Djambo Soubal, near the Senegal River, a Vietnamese specialist in small-scale fishing has been overseeing the construction of two small galvanised iron boats that are much more durable than wooden canoes. He has taught the people how to row with their feet as the Vietnamese do, in order to allow them the free use of their hands and thus enable them to perform tasks that usually require two people. They catch between five and 20 kilos of fish a day. In nearby Guia, another adviser is initiating the village women into the mysteries of duck breeding and fish farming. Elsewhere, an agricultural expert is instructing nine families on the art of market gardening.
Self-sufficiency within reach
The Vietnamese experts, whose numbers have risen from 40 to more than 100 over the last two years, are appreciated wherever they go. "We live like the Senegalese villagers do," says Nguyen Dinh Hiep, a horticultural engineer from Hanoi. Each Vietnamese worker is entitled to one motorcycle and one fan, but air conditioners are not provided, despite the heat, and some workers grumble openly about this. The villagers cannot hide their admiration for the Vietnamese, who arrive early in the morning and leave at nightfall.
The results are tangible. In the Senegal River Valley, following a two-year pilot phase during which various strains of rice grown in Vietnam were tested, the figures speak for themselves. In the experimental irrigated fields, rice production in 1997-98 was up 70%, averaging seven tonnes a hectare. Production in the non-irrigated sector soared by 190%, reaching six tonnes a hectare. Beekeeping, market gardening and other ventures have all shown similar results (2). Emboldened by this success, Senegal is set to enter the extension phase of the SPFS programme over the next few years as part of the countrys National Plan of Action.
Nonetheless, certain misgivings and constraints remain. After the Vietnamese leave, will the Senegalese be able to find the necessary energy and funds to keep the projects running, train their own experts and maintain the impetus? Will peasant farming organisations take on their rightful role in production? Most important, will the government and its technical services be able to fulfil their (diminished) responsibilities, after transferring most of their rights and responsibilities to the peasant organisations and the private sector?
As we have seen, the prospects in Dado are promising and village self-sufficiency is within reach. However, the state-funded infrastructure and materials required for any new irrigation projects are still in short supply. "Moneys tight. Everythings at a standstill. The government hasnt budged since 1995," is the bitter assessment of Abdou Sall, an agricultural engineer working with peasant farming organisations in Podor. In Fatick people are as concerned about the lack of official response to production and financing issues as they are about the lack of rain.
Makane Guisse offers this explanation: "The peasant farming organisations have inherited governmental development projects that they did not ask for, and theyre unable to keep them running on their own." The private sector is slated to assume part of the governments role, but it is neither powerful nor involved enough to assume responsibility for the development of tens of thousands of hectares of irrigated land. Results are thus slow in coming and agricultural production is still stagnant.
According to a June 1999 report marking the completion of the agricultural sector adjustment programme (known as Pasa), rice production, notably in the Senegal River Valley, has actually declined since reforms were introduced. The report draws this conclusion: "Liberalisation has had no significant impact on agricultural production since the accompanying measures, aimed at peasant farming operations and production environments (including marketing and credit issues), have not been implemented. In fact, the constraints on production remain, despite the liberalisation of the agricultural sector." Given the climate-related constraints affecting a country in which most farmers depend on rainfall for their survival, it is easy to appreciate the value that Senegal and other countries of the South place on the rescue programmes of the SPFS and the South-South cooperation initiative.
* Journalist
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(1) Programme spécial pour la sécurité alimentaire. Etat de mise en uvre, (Special Programme for Food Security. Implementation Report), Senegalese Agriculture Ministry/Food and Agriculture Organisation, Dakar, November 1999.
(2) Op cit.