Senegal has launched a US$191.7 million agro-industrial processing zone aimed at scaling up local value addition and cutting food imports, authorities said, as the West African nation steps up its push for food sovereignty.
The Agropole Centre project was officially launched on December 16 and will serve Senegal’s central regions, according to the Senegalese Press Agency (APS).
The project carries a total cost of 107.4 billion CFA francs (US$191.7 million) and is financed by the state with support from several development partners, including the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the Belgian Development Agency.
Authorities said the Agropole Centre will back 37 priority projects across strategic value chains such as peanuts, dry cereals including millet, maize and sorghum, sesame and salt. The initiative will cover the regions of Kaolack, Kaffrine, Fatick and Diourbel, with investments focused on industrial facilities and modern processing hubs.
Officials expect the project to sharply raise agro-processing capacity in the central zone. Targeted processing rates are set to increase from 6 percent to 30 percent for cereals, from 15 percent to 50 percent for peanuts and from 10 percent to 30 percent for salt.
Beyond industrial output, the agropole is projected to deliver significant social and economic gains. Authorities estimate it will create nearly 130,000 direct jobs and more than 200,000 indirect jobs, with young people and women expected to be the main beneficiaries. Producer incomes are also forecast to rise as a result of greater value addition to locally sourced raw materials.
“The Agropole Centre is a major project designed to promote territorial equity by transforming the central zone into a hub for agro-industrial processing,” said Babou Dramé, the project coordinator. He said the initiative aims to anchor job creation and local development through the industrial processing of agricultural products.
The project is structured around integrated value-chain development. Senegal’s Ministry of Industry and Trade is overseeing the processing and industrial components, while the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock is responsible for strengthening the supply of raw materials upstream.
More on Sengal’s Agropole Centre
The Agropole Centre is one of several regional projects under Senegal’s National Programme for the Development of Agropoles (PNDAS), which seeks to modernize and better structure the country’s agro-industrial sector.
Under the programme, additional agropoles are planned or under development in the south (Ziguinchor, Kolda and Sédhiou), the west (Thiès), the north (Saint-Louis, Louga and Matam) and the east (Tambacounda and Kédougou).
Each agropole is designed around regional specialization. The northern zone focuses on rice, export horticulture, livestock and fisheries, while the southern agropole prioritizes mango, cashew and maize, reflecting local production strengths.
For the government, agropoles are a cornerstone of its food sovereignty strategy, which aims to expand domestic processing, stimulate agricultural output and reduce dependence on imports while improving the trade balance.
Despite its agricultural potential, Senegal remains one of the region’s largest food importers. According to data compiled by the UNCTAD, the country imported an average of nearly $1.88 billion worth of food products per year between 2021 and 2023. Rice, wheat, maize, palm oil, dairy products and sugar accounted for the bulk of the import bill.
By strengthening local processing and anchoring agro-industry closer to production zones, authorities hope the new agropole will help reverse that trend and anchor more value within the domestic economy.
Background on Senegal’s Agropole Centre
The Agropole Centre is part of Senegal’s long-term effort to shift from exporting raw agricultural commodities to building competitive agro-industrial value chains within the country. The concept emerged in the mid-2010s as policymakers sought to address persistent structural weaknesses in agriculture, including low productivity, high post-harvest losses, limited processing capacity and heavy reliance on food imports.
Central Senegal—covering Kaolack, Kaffrine, Fatick and Diourbel—was identified as a priority zone because of its strong agricultural base, particularly in groundnuts, cereals and salt, but also because of chronic under-industrialization. Historically, most produce from the area has been sold raw, with limited local transformation, leaving farmers exposed to price volatility and low margins.
The Agropole Centre is designed as a cluster-based industrial ecosystem, bringing together processing units, storage facilities, logistics platforms, quality-control services and business support infrastructure within a single geographic zone. This model aims to reduce production costs, improve coordination along value chains and attract private investors who would otherwise be deterred by fragmented supply systems.
The project draws inspiration from similar agro-industrial park models implemented in countries such as Ethiopia and Morocco, where concentrated infrastructure investment helped accelerate agro-processing and export growth. In Senegal’s case, the agropole approach also aligns with the country’s food sovereignty agenda, which gained urgency following recent global supply shocks and rising food import bills.
Institutionally, the Agropole Centre sits under Senegal’s National Programme for the Development of Agropoles (PNDAS), launched to support the implementation of the country’s development blueprint and industrial policy. The programme promotes regional specialization, public-private partnerships and value-addition close to production zones, rather than centralized industrialization around Dakar.
Development finance institutions, including the African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, have supported the agropole model as a way to combine rural development, job creation and industrial growth. Their involvement reflects confidence that agropoles can serve as anchors for inclusive growth, particularly for youth and women in rural areas.
Over time, authorities expect the Agropole Centre to evolve beyond basic processing into higher-value activities such as packaging, branding and export-oriented production, positioning central Senegal as a competitive agro-industrial hub within West Africa.
