A lack of rainfall will likely halve Senegal's agricultural production for the 2007-2008 season, with the country's leading export peanut crop among those affected, its agricultural head has said.
"The rainy season generally has not delivered the results we hoped for. We will have 50 percent of the production we should have had" if rains had been good, said Samba Kante, agriculture director at the ministry of rural development and agriculture.
A sparse, two-month rainfall particularly affected northern and central Senegal, preventing peanut, millet and maize plants from completing their full growing cycles, Kante said.
"We expect 419,000 tonnes of peanuts this year compared to 460,000 tonnes last year which was also not a good one," Kante added.
But pockets of good output exist in the southern and central parts of the country thanks to early planting - and the dry weather has not affected production of niebe, a local bean variety.
The grim news follows the downward revision earlier this month by the country's finance minister of Senegal's expected 2007 growth, from 5.4 percent to between 4.5 percent and 4.7 percent.
Dry conditions have similarly scaled back growth forecasts for the agricultural sector to 4.5 percent, compared to 5.6 percent initially.
The country's economic growth was also sharply lower in 2006 compared to the previous year, due to high oil prices among other factors.
Meanwhile, price hikes for basic foods have sparked protests in Senegal and other parts of West Africa.
AFP
