Senegal Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in senegal, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Agricultural Sector
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Overview 

Agriculture is an important barometer of the economy, accounting for about 16 percent of GDP in 2023. Agriculture provided roughly 22 percent of total employment in 2023, marking a decline from roughly 30 percent in 2020. Despite agriculture’s importance, Senegal lies within the drought-prone Sahel region, with irregular rainfall and generally poor soils. As a result, Senegal relies on imports to meet approximately 70 percent of its food needs as of 2023. Top agricultural imports in Senegal are rice, wheat, corn, onions, palm oil, dairy products, fresh vegetables, sugar, potatoes, and food preparations and ingredients for food processing.  

U.S. total exports of agricultural products to Senegal totaled $20 million in 2023. Senegal ranked number 145 among U.S. Agricultural export markets in 2022 with nearly $8.6 million in agricultural exports. In 2024, top 10 U.S. agricultural exports to Senegal included rice, food preparations, sugar, condiments and sauces, planting seeds, pulses, other intermediate products, dextrins, peptones, and proteins, tobacco, and distiller grains.  In 2025, Senegal imported its first shipment of American wheat in over a decade and started importing premium American beef for the first time ever. Top prospects for U.S. agricultural exports to Senegal include feed ingredients, food preparations and ingredients for food processing, and select consumer-oriented products.  

Leading Sub-sectors 

  • Senegal has growing demand for tractors, farming equipment, expanded irrigation systems, postharvest handling systems, storage, and silo facilities.  
  • Increased commodity output should also stimulate demand for processing technology or innovation and growth in the packaging industry. There are plans for a cereal (import oriented) and fruit (export oriented) terminal and associated warehousing facilities in the Port of Dakar.  

Opportunities 

Investment opportunities in the agricultural sector can be viewed at http://www.afdb.org/en/projectsoperations/project-portfolio/1/

Resources 

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