Regional Markets

Regional Markets for Local Development
Another key actor is the multi-stakeholder National Groundnut Council (CNIA),
which coordinates the various actors involved in the production, processing and supply
of inputs and services, and assures that these activities follow the framework agreement
with the Government of Senegal (signed in 1997 and renewed in 2003). The CNIA is
also responsible for setting producer prices. Other key stakeholders include the farmers’
organisations, responsible for the production and marketing of groundnuts; intermediary
traders; and SUNEOR, the dominant oil processing company responsible for
organising the primary marketing of groundnuts. The role of the private sector should
be emphasised in particular, because of its increasing importance (especially with the
advanced liberalisation after 2002). More private traders have entered into groundnut
marketing, gradually replacing cooperatives as the main purchasing agents (the proliferation
of traders has also lowered marketing costs).
Impact of the intervention
Pro-poor development
Groundnut production is strongly linked to other sectors of the economy, such as the
food industry and transport. Moreover, it is the source of a strong intermediate demand
for inputs produced by the rest of the economy. On average, groundnuts are a more
profitable crop than cereals for farmers and so the reforms of the groundnut sector
and external price shocks have had severe effects on the Senegalese economy, from
rural household all the way to national welfare concern. The intervention played an
important role in stabilising groundnut production and increasing the direct income for
groundnut farmers, especially of vulnerable groups in the Kaolack Region.
The seed programme helped revitalise the groundnut sector more broadly by providing
smallholders with access to quality seeds, to improve their productivity and production.
In addition, the processing units add value to the harvest and enable the smallholder to
secure additional income by marketing products instead of raw groundnuts. By setting
up these small groundnut processing and marketing units, smallholders (and women in
particular) could strengthen their livelihood and combat poverty.
Gender
In the past, the role of women in agriculture was to help men in cultivation—and especially
in harvesting. Most women still do not have access to or control over land and
other means of production. Credit and seed distribution are generally diverted to men
who control the land and natural resources. Through the support of ActionAid Senegal
women are gaining access to and control over land and other productive resources. In
the groundnut sector, women are now organising themselves to collect their harvests
and to market their products themselves. Furthermore, they now actively participate in
decision-making at the CCPA. The project emphasised the empowerment of women
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