Millet in Senegal: a key sector

Millet is a central cereal in the daily diet of Senegalese households. Widely cultivated throughout the country, it has benefited from particular support from public policies in order to to meet the growing demand of urban consumers and promote local processing. How is the millet sector doing in Senegal today? Discover the analysis by the FARM and Avril foundations carried out as part of a study on public policies in favor of agricultural sectors in Africa.

Millet, the country's leading cereal

In Senegal, cereals occupy 49,100 tonnes of arable land, ahead of peanuts (371,000 tonnes). The main cereals are millet (281,000 tonnes of cultivated land), maize (91,000 tonnes), rainfed rice (71,000 tonnes), and sorghum (41,000 tonnes). Millet is mainly produced and consumed in the central regions of the country – Kaolack representing the largest regional market – and in the south (Casamance, Tambacounda). Annual millet production was around 900,000 to 1,000,000 tonnes in 2020/2021, and has been increasing continuously since 2013 (640,000 tonnes in 2013).^[1]. It is possible to estimate the value of annual millet production in Senegal at at least 1 billion dollars. Millet in Senegal is part of a fast-growing value chain where small and medium-sized marketing and processing enterprises (SMEs) play an important role.^[2].

Prices to soar in 2022

Due to the war in Ukraine, the decline in stocks of certain cereals and strong domestic demand, staple foods such as millet, corn and sorghum are experiencing very sharp price increases in 2022. While the 2015-2020 average price of millet in Senegal was around 250 CFA francs, the average national price per kilogram in August 2022 exceeded 400 CFA francs.

A popular commodity

As one of the surveys of the Agricultural Policy Support Project (DAD), there is a strong demand for processed millet products in urban areas: these processed products represent on average 86 % of urban household expenditure, 91 % in Dakar and 82 % in other cities^[3].

Semi-industrial processing of millet is carried out by SMEs such as "Vivrière", "Les Moulins Sentenac", "Mamelles Jaboot" and "Utrapal". Traditional processing of millet, on the other hand, is often carried out by GIE (Economic Interest Groups), mainly composed of women. Among the processed products are couscous, "sankhal" and "araw" but the transformation into flour remains the most interesting since it allows contracts with bakeries.^[4]Urban households allocate 1.4% of their millet expenditure to raw grain millet and 42% to primary processing products.

A supported sector 

Since the mid-1980s, public policies have supported the development of millet and the industry. Two policy changes in particular have enabled a dynamic private sector. On the one hand, a structural change abandoning the monopoly state-owned enterprises giving way to private companies; on the other hand, a promotion policy consumption of local productsFor example, the project for the promotion of local cereals in the Sahel has encouraged the development of processing technologies; millet-based products have thus appeared over time in urban areas.

The global food crisis in 2008 had a significant impact. Indeed, public agricultural spending increased in Senegal. It increased by 67 % between 2010 and 2015, while total public spending only increased by 30% over the same period. Subsidies for inputs (seeds and fertilizers) and for the purchase of agricultural equipment for growing cowpea, maize, or millet also increased. Although it is not possible to clearly establish a causal link between these policies alone and cereal productivity, it is important to note an upward trend in the productivity of the cereal sectors.

Furthermore, since 2010, international donors such as USAID (Naatal Mbday program "making agribusiness flourish") and the AfD have also supported the development of Senegalese agriculture. The improvement of financial services has helped create an environment favorable to the development of the sector. This includes, for example, the implementation of an integrated financing model (contractualization between the bank, producers and processors) to cover input needs and product marketing, or the development of leasing.

Millet companies

Compared to farms of other crops such as rice, those producing millet are larger in size. Nevertheless, it is estimated that 60,000 to 80,000 farms self-consume a substantial portion of their production. The "bana-bana" (street vendors) ensure collection at the village level or at the loumas (weekly markets in Senegal). They most often work in a network with wholesalers established at the market level in surplus regions, mainly in the center of the country. These wholesalers supply other wholesalers established in deficit areas (Saint Louis, Dakar, Thiès), retailers and processors. Producers can also sell directly to wholesalers, retailers or processors or to end consumers.

Millet producers are united within different organizations, notably at the level of the "Local Frameworks for Consultation of Producer Organizations", set up by the Senegalese Association for the Promotion of Grassroots Development (ASPRODEB). However, no organization is truly representative of producers in the millet sector. The consideration of creating an interprofessional organization, initiated as part of the project to promote local cereals in 2000, has not come to fruition.

The processing sector is characterized by semi-industrial SMEs, individual micro-enterprises and groups of artisans. Since the 2000s, the number of agri-food micro and small enterprises (MSEs) has particularly increased and the MSEs in the local cereal sector represent 1/10 of Senegalese MSEs^[5].

Zoom: millet-based bread and couscous, innovative products at lower costs for SMEs and MSEs 

The creation of the ATCL (Association of Local Cereal Processors) has enabled the establishment of groups within the millet sector between semi-industrial units and small and medium-sized enterprises. This has enabled exchanges between different cereal specialists. Various partnerships between national stakeholders have taken shape in recent years.

Millet producers have begun collaborating with processors and bakers to offer millet-based bread at a more affordable price. This helps curb the growth of wheat imports into Senegal and produces bread that minimizes costs and is therefore more affordable for consumers.

The Institute of Food Technology has created a machine called a "rouleur" to transform millet into couscous and a new manufacturing process that requires little labor.

What conclusions can be drawn from the development of the millet sector?

Upstream, productivity improved significantly after the 2007-2008 food crisis, and yields almost doubled on average. Although still low (20 kg/ha), fertilizer consumption also increased. Incomes of millet-producing households with access to subsidies increased. Programs combining access to credit and inputs (fertilizer, seeds, irrigation), coupled with a marketing system based on contracting, helped increase producers' incomes.

Downstream, various schemes and programs have enabled an increase in the number of SMEs and easier access to financial services and equipment for processing and distributing cereal-based products. However, access to credit and financing remains too limited for SMEs in the millet sector.

45 % households still produce without fertilizer. The majority of them suffer from budgetary constraints that prevent them from purchasing fertilizer, even at subsidized prices. Moreover, fertilizer subsidies are not accompanied by training or R&D on complementary agroecological practices.

Finally, although progress has been made in the contractualization and organization of commercial relations, they remain a real challenge for the millet sector in Senegal. Contractual relations represented less than 5% of business relations in the sector in 2020.

To learn more about the role of public policies in favor of agricultural sectors in Africa, download our full study.

[1] Directorate of Agricultural Analysis, Forecasting and Statistics in Senegal.

[2] Getaw Tadesse and Ousmane Badiane, 2020 “Policy responses to rapidly transforming midstream value chain segments in Africa: the case of the millet sector in Senegal”, Annual trends and outlook report: Sustaining Africa's agrifood system transformation: The role of public policies, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and AKADEMIYA2063.

^[3] “Better understanding of millet consumption in urban areas: strong demand for processed products, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Equipment, Agricultural Policy Support Project (PAPA), 2018

[4] Operational Framework Study of Naatal Mbay Value Chains: Interim report on the millet value chain, Feed The Future, August 2016

[5] Infoconseil, Paoa, 2006, State of play of the local cereal sector in Senegal, Dakar, Senegal, Gret, Enda graf, SNC Lavalin, Cintech, MAE, CDE, ACDI, MIA.