​Access to financing: A case-study for rural actors (Par M. Djibril BA) 

  To support rural actors and meet the challenges of food security, the new authorities have, within the framework of the National Strategy for Economic Development, allocated a total budget of 1 070 billion Fcfa to the primary sector (agricultural production, livestock and fisheries). In line with the new challenges of the current government, and in line with the different axes of the Horizon 2050 reference framework, this budget will strongly support the different links in agricultural value chains. Particular emphasis will be placed on agricultural mechanization, the development of agro-industry to reduce post-harvest losses and the modernization of irrigation infrastructures to boost agricultural productivity. In this approach, the State of Senegal confirms its clear will to achieve food self-sufficiency through intensified agriculture, water management and the dissemination of good agricultural practices. The agricultural sector, which is mainly composed of family-type holdings, accounts for only 3 to 5% of the total amount of credit recorded in the financing of the economy in general. The insufficient availability or absence of financial resources, combined with the failures of our credit policies in the agriculture sector, negatively impacts the sector’s performance and in turn on our economy. In addition, there is the weakness of agricultural productivity due to climate threats, the instability of rainfall, the lack of structuring of agricultural and agri-food value chains in certain agro-ecological zones, the absence of integrated financing models, the absence of guarantees, the absence of strategies to mitigate risks inherent in agriculture, etc. Despite the existence of certain guarantee instruments such as FONSIS and FONGIP and other mechanisms put in place by the State and the private sector in the form of guarantee funds, the deficit of bank credits in the sector remains a concern for the actors. In order to restart the agricultural sector, the State must urgently find, together with the stakeholders, the means to strengthen the financing mechanisms of the parapublic banks and find a solution to the arrears recorded by the producers due to the impact of COVID-19 and the decline in agricultural productivity due to climate threats.