Senegal

Through the RFS Senegal project, the Agricultural Value Chains Resilience Support Project (PARFA), the Government of Senegal is promoting the sustainable improvement of family farms in the Groundnut Basin and silvo-pastoral regions.

In order to deliver global environmental benefits at scale, the project is structured around three principal components, all critical areas in the causal chain of environmental degradation:

1. Convening multi-stakeholder alliances that bring together stakeholders from the public and private sectors, donors, scientific community and civil society;
2. Demonstrating innovative approaches in Integrated Natural Resources Management and scaling-up successful interventions; and
3. Strengthening institutional capacity in monitoring and assessment of global environmental benefits, food security and resilience to improve investment decision-making.

The project is also working to establish a financial window for sustainable land and environmental management through the National Agro-Silvo-Pastoral Development Fund in order to secure funding for scaling up best practices.   

Overall, the project is designed to benefit around 52,500 people in 5,250 households through technical support and training, improved monitoring and evaluation, and environmental measures including land rehabilitation and soil and water conservation. 

The project aims to meet the following targets:

Multi-stakeholder platforms established that integrate environmental degradation issues and climate variability in development actions.

• Educate and train 2,500 key actors on issues of resilience and environmental sustainability through two national workshops and 20 regional workshops.

Resilience of smallholder farmers improved.

• Prepare 450 ha of valleys for the cultivation of rice and market gardening.
• Rehabilitate 6 dykes to protect against 300 ha of land salinisation.
• Implement soil water conservation and protection works on 800 ha of exposed land. 
• Rehabilitate 1,000 ha of mangroves in the Saloum Delta. 
• Support the installation of 20 solar pumping systems on 20 ha of market gardens.

A mechanism for the monitoring and evaluation of environmental impacts and food security is established and functional.

• Establish an information system implemented by the Ecological Monitoring Centre (CSE).  

At the national level, major stakeholders include the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Equipment, Institute of Food Technology, Commission on Food Safety, Agronomists and Veterinarians Without Borders, National Institute of Pedology, Ecological Monitoring Centre, National Agricultural and Rural Advisory Agency, National Renewable Energy Agency and the Office for Rural Boreholes. Other major stakeholders include the National Agricultural Credit Fund of Senegal and service providers for agriculture and livestock farming.