​Self-sufficiency in milk: Senegal strengthens its local sector and engages importers 

  In the context of the genetic improvement of the national dairy herd, the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock, Dr Mabouba Diagne, received, on Saturday 24 March, an important consignment of 1 250 breeding females with high potential for dairy production at the Niague agro-pastoral farm. On that occasion, he made a strong appeal to importers of dairy products, inviting them to reserve at least 10% of their purchases for local milk, a measure aimed at boosting the national supply chain and accelerating the march towards milk self-sufficiency. Since 2017, an ambitious public-private partnership has been set up with the National Association for the Intensification of Dairy Production (ANIPL), aimed at strengthening the country’s dairy herd through the import of high-performance breeds. This sixth purchase operation brought together key players in the sector, notably the President of the National Assembly, Mr Malick Ndiaye, and the Minister of State for Cooperatives and Rural Development, Dr Alpha Bâ. Dr Mabouba Diagne reaffirmed his commitment to food sovereignty and highlighted the needs still to be met in order to achieve milk self-sufficiency. “We are lacking about 400 million litres of milk a year, which requires nearly 80 53 additional cows and 30 000 hectares of land dedicated to forage and silage cultivation”, he said. Faced with an annual bill for the import of dairy products exceeding 80 billion FCFA, or even 100 billion according to some estimates, the Minister urged the private sector to play a more active role in the development of the local sector. He also announced that he would contact his Commerce colleague for the effective implementation of the directive to reserve 10% of imports for locally produced milk. Since 2017, 6 732 breeds of highly productive dairy breeds (Holstein, Montbéliarde, Normande, Jersiaise, Brune) have been imported, representing a total investment of nearly 14 billion FCFA. Of this sum, the beneficiaries contributed up to FCFA 7.5 billion, while the State granted a subsidy of FCFA 5.4 billion to support the sector.