National march in Pout: The onion war has begun between small producers and multinationals!

In a memorandum addressed to the President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, vegetable farmers from the Niayes region, who took to the streets in a nationwide protest march in Pout, are protesting the poor sales of onions and demanding a review of the decision authorizing the simultaneous marketing of produce by agribusinesses and small producers. They are appealing to President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye to address their plight.

The president of the Ngomène producers' collective, speaking on behalf of the day, stated: "Following an alarming observation of 'unfair competition,' small producers, market gardeners, women, and young people throughout the Niayes region (Pout, Diender, Kayar, Notto-Gouye-Diama, Mboro, Fass Boye), the historical drivers of Senegal's horticultural food sovereignty, are suffering an unprecedented marketing crisis. Our harvests are rotting in the fields and on the platforms where the products are being sold at a loss, below our basic production costs."

This situation, he explained, “is not simply a matter of chance; it is exacerbated by the unregulated expansion of large agribusiness firms. With massive capital, industrial irrigation technologies, and vast storage facilities, these multinationals, which are also producers and traders, saturate the domestic market prematurely. They deprive family farms of their traditional outlets.” He is outraged that “faced with this financial power, the small producer in the Niayes region is condemned to bankruptcy, over-indebtedness, and, why not, to Barça or Barsakh (exodus).”

The demands of small producers in the face of this situation remain related, among other things, to the monopoly on the market calendar: agribusiness floods the market precisely when small producers need to sell their produce to repay their microloans. There is also the non-implementation or inadequacy of regulatory measures: although import freezes are decreed and temporary suspensions targeting agribusiness are sometimes announced by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, implementation on the ground remains largely insufficient to reverse the trend.

Not to mention the glaring infrastructure deficit: the Niayes area is sorely lacking in modern storage centers and public cold storage facilities, which sometimes forces small producers to sell off their onions at rock-bottom prices before they rot.

Requirements and emergency solutions

To save family farming in the Niayes and protect thousands of rural jobs, market gardeners are demanding the immediate implementation of a number of measures, namely the immediate suspension of the authorization granted to agribusiness companies for the marketing of onions during the harvest period of small producers.

Also, establish a differentiated marketing calendar, reserving an exclusive period for small producers to sell their production; conduct inclusive consultations with producers, cooperatives and sector stakeholders to find sustainable solutions; strengthen mechanisms to protect small producers against unfair trading practices.

Regarding their commitment, the producers stated they were open to dialogue and ready to collaborate with the authorities to: respect marketing regulations once their demands are addressed; and actively participate in any initiative aimed at modernizing and making the sector more competitive. In conclusion, they expressed their confidence in His Excellency, the President of the Republic, guarantor of social justice and inclusive development, to ensure an urgent and equitable solution to their situation.