• Senegal targets over 90% national food security by 2029 and plans to create 800,000 formal jobs.

• The World Bank Group will double annual agribusiness financing and mobilize $5 billion by 2030 through IFC and MIGA.

• Senegal spends an average of $1.88 billion annually on food imports, ranking second in WAEMU after Côte d’Ivoire.

Authorities first unveiled the AgriConnect initiative in October 2025 during the World Bank Group and IMF Annual Meetings. They presented the framework as a new model to enhance food security in developing countries, and Senegal now serves as its first implementation case.

The government officially launched the pact on Tuesday, February 10. The World Bank Group stated in a press release that the program aligns with the National Transformation Agenda Senegal 2050 and the 2025–2034 Food Sovereignty Strategy.

Authorities aim to secure more than 90% national food security by 2029 and create 800,000 formal jobs across agricultural and agro-industrial sectors. The government also expects the initiative to lift 18.8 million people out of food and nutritional insecurity by boosting agricultural and food production, according to the Senegalese Press Agency (APS).

The program targets three priority value chains: cereals, horticulture and livestock. The government plans to mobilize investment in agricultural infrastructure and services, revise sector policies to improve the business climate, attract private capital to stimulate innovation and competitiveness, and establish 100 community agricultural cooperatives.

“AgriConnect is a model platform for structuring a portfolio of projects linked to the National Transformation Agenda. Through sector program contracts that involve all stakeholders, it aims to achieve the expected impacts of the Vision Sénégal 2050, sovereign, fair and prosperous,” said Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo, Minister in charge of monitoring, steering and evaluating the National Transformation Agenda Senegal 2050.

Authorities expect cereal production to cover 78% of local market needs by the end of the program’s implementation, compared with 48% currently.

Massive Financial Support to Back the Private Sector

The World Bank announced that it will double its annual agribusiness financing in Senegal under the initiative. The institution plans to mobilize an additional $5 billion by 2030 through the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to support private investment, industrial partnerships, local processing and farmers’ access to digital tools.

This financial support comes at a critical time because banks traditionally allocate limited credit to agriculture. As in most sub-Saharan African countries, the sector receives less than 5% of total bank lending due to climate risks, volatile yields, weak value chain structuring and insufficient collateral.

Limited financing constrains investment despite the country’s significant untapped agricultural potential. Official data show that farmers cultivate 2.5 million hectares out of a potential 3.8 million hectares. The country also exploits only about 5% of its irrigation development potential, estimated at 400,000 hectares.

Underutilization of this potential reinforces structural dependence on food imports. Data compiled by UNCTAD show that Senegal imported an average of $1.88 billion worth of food products annually between 2021 and 2023. The country ranks as the second-largest food importer in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) after Côte d’Ivoire. Cereals such as wheat and rice, along with cooking oils, account for a large share of import spending.

This article was initially published in French by Stéphanas Assocle

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de BERRY QUENUM