(Ecofin Agency) - Senegal’s 2018 mango marketing year is on the right track. Indeed, since the campaign began, the country has already shipped a total of 16,000 tons of fruits out of which 14,000 went to the EU.

“That volume was never reached during past marketing years within WAEMU,” Aboudoulaye N’diaye, Head of the Plant Health Legislation Division at the Plant Protection Directorate (DPV), told APS.

Speaking on the campaign’s year-to-date record, he mentioned that the fruit quality is also satisfactory. The manager indicated that so far, only 46 tons of the volume sent to the EU has been quarantined for non-compliance with required quality. As well, overall, only 7 warnings have been reported, compared to around 20 last year.

N’diaye however called on relevant services to tighten cargo inspection and control as to effectively control fruit flies. Let’s note that in 2017, Senegal exported more than 17,000 tons of mango for about CFA10 billion. The country is the third largest mango exporter in West Africa after Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

Espoir Olodo