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October 22, 2001
Senegal’s paddy rice production for 2001/02 is estimated at 220,000 metric tons, up 1 percent from last year and up 18 percent from the five-year average. Area harvested is estimated at 85,000 hectares, equal to last year and up 15 percent from the five-year average. This year's rice crop is expected to remain the same as last year, even though the 2001 rains were below normal. These poor rains are not expected to reduce rice production because most of the rice crop is irrigated along the Senegal River.
Last year, paddy rice
production was estimated at 217,000 metric tons, down 10 percent from 1999/00,
but up 20 percent from the five-year average.
Lower rice production for the past two years is attributed to less
harvested area, as farmers in the Senegal River Valley shifted tomato production,
which is more profitable, due to construction of two new processing plants
within the region.
Rice is grown in the flood plains of the Senegal, Saloum, and Casamance rivers, but is mainly produced along the Senegal River Valley where irrigation water is readily available (Figure 1). It is estimated that approximately 45 percent of the harvested rice area in Senegal is irrigated from recessional floods along the river banks, and another 45 percent is irrigated by controlled flooding. In the southern Casamance region, rice is produced mainly by recessional irrigation along the ephemeral flood plains, and this rice is used mostly for home consumption.
Figure 1. Irrigation Along Senegal River Basin
Rice in Senegal is typically planted from June to July and harvested from November to January, coinciding with Senegal’s rainy season from June-October. Rice is cultivated on small landholdings and large-scale agriculture is very limited, with the exception of some large-scale rice and sugar production at the Richard Toll irrigation scheme located near the Senegal River delta. The Senegalese government is attempting to reduce its dependency on rice imports by sponsoring dam construction and irrigation projects, especially along the Senegal River.
The Senegal River is 1800-km
long and begins in Mali at the confluence of two rivers; the Bafing and
the Bakoye rivers, some 1000-km inland from the Atlantic Ocean.
It flows across the western part of Mali and then defines the border
between Senegal and Mauritania before discharging into the ocean. Downstream
from Manantali Dam, its main tributaries are the Falémé, Kolimbiné,
Karakoro, and Gorgol rivers (Figure 1).
The Organization for the Development of the River Senegal (OMVS), which consists of Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal, developed a plan to construct two dams, the Manantali and Diama dams, along the Senegal River to:
The Diama Dam, located 23-km upstream from the river’s mouth, was completed
in 1986 and its primary function is to prevent
salt-water intrusion from the Atlantic Ocean. The
Diama Dam is closed during the dry season from November to June, and is
gradually opened during the rainy season, generally around July.
The Diama Dam also improved river
navigation, and a series of dikes were also built to protect the banks
along the river downstream from the dam.
The second multi-purpose dam, Manantali Dam, is located approximately 1200 km. upstream, and was built by the OMVS on the Bafig tributary of the Senegal River in Mali. The Bafing tributary feeds 40-60 percent of Senegal’s River annual water flow. Behind Manantali Dam lies a large freshwater reservoir for hydroelectric power, irrigation, and freshwater supply. The Manantali Dam is a 66-meter high dam and was completed in 1988, although no turbines were installed. The Manantali Dam evens the flow of the Senegal River and the dam has a maximum capacity of 11 billion cubic meters, much more than the Diama Dam. The Manantali Dam stabilizes the water level along the stretch forming the border between Mauritania and Senegal, thus facilitating navigation and improving irrigation potential.
The Manantali project was also to include a 200-MW power station and an 1300-km network of transmission lines to the capitals of Mali (Bamako), Mauritania (Nouakschott) and Senegal (Dakar). However, cost overruns, coupled with political and military tensions between Mauritania and Senegal, initially delayed the construction of the power facilities. In June 1997, the World Bank approved a loan to help finance the installation of turbines for the dam and construction is currently underway to bring the power facilities online.
Construction of these dams created an additional 240,000 hectares
of land which can be irrigated on the Senegalese side of the Senegal River. This
gave the country the potential to diversify its crop base and increase food production.
However, the two dams also created controversy by altering the
hydrological regime of the Senegal River. Upon
completion of the dams, farmers
and fishermen living downstream were introduced to increased health problems through water-borne
diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis.
Operation of the upstream dam has also reduced annual
floods along the floodplain, where an ancient and productive form of
recessional irrigation has been practiced for hundreds of
years. Recessional irrigation is still practiced along these flood plains
for an estimated 50,000 hectares, but simulated flood waters from the Manantali
Dam do not carry the same load of nutrient-rich silts which are deposited on the
fields after the flood waters retreat.
Rice Imports
Rice is the staple food grain in Senegal, but Senegal currently imports more than three-quarters of its rice for domestic consumption. In addition, many rice farmers have difficulty selling their crop, because the markets are inundated with cheaper imported rice from Asia and the Senegalese prefer the 100 percent broken rice from Asia to the long-grain rice grown locally. Thailand remains the largest supplier of rice (approximately 64 percent) and Vietnam is the next largest supplier (approximately 24 percent).
For more information, contact Curt Reynolds
with the
Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division at (202)
690-0134 or e-mail ReynoldsC@fas.usda.gov.
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