The department of Koungheul (Kaffrine) hosted, this Friday, October 10, 2025, the launch of the national campaign for the formalization of organizations into agricultural and community cooperative societies. The official ceremony took place as part of the joint caravan organized for this purpose by the General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship of Women and Youth (DER/FJ) and the Secretariat of State for Cooperatives and Peasant Supervision (SECEP). It was chaired by Dr. Alpha Ba, Secretary of State to the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock, in charge of cooperatives and peasant supervision, in the presence of Dr. Aïssatou Mbodj, General Delegate of the DER/FJ, accompanied by her team.

Formalization: “an essential lever for guaranteeing transparency, traceability, democratic governance and access to public and private funding”

The Senegalese government has embarked on a new phase of agricultural development based on food sovereignty, the promotion of rural labor, and the formalization of grassroots economic actors. Indeed, under the leadership of the President of the Republic, the government is working to build an inclusive rural ecosystem where every producer, every group, and every cooperative can access equitable economic, financial, and institutional opportunities.

As such, the formalization of agricultural and community cooperatives becomes an essential lever for ensuring transparency, traceability, democratic governance, and access to public and private financing. The aim here is to make the cooperative model a driver of shared prosperity, social equity, and the transformation of local areas.

The national campaign to formalize organizations into agricultural and community cooperative societies is in line with the establishment of 3,000 agricultural farms across the country, in accordance with the President of the Republic's vision for agricultural development and producer empowerment. By launching it, the DER/FJ and SECEP are laying a decisive milestone for the reestablishment of the Senegalese cooperative movement in the service of food sovereignty, sustainable rural development, and employment for youth and women.

Notices of registration of cooperatives and training certificates were given to the beneficiaries

On the occasion, the General Delegate of DER/FJ, after handing over the cooperative registration notices and training certificates to the beneficiaries, handed over a symbolic amount of 40 million CFA francs to the Prefect of Koungheul to be distributed to women entrepreneurs in the locality for their economic empowerment. According to her, this support has nothing to do with agricultural cooperatives.

As part of PAVI 2, whose budget is estimated at 107 billion FCFA, Dr. Aïssatou Mbodj announced the upcoming establishment of agricultural farms to structure agricultural value chains across the country.

“The DER/FJ is about formalizing, training and financing”

The Secretary of State to the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock, responsible for Cooperatives and Peasant Supervision, after thanking the State's technical services in the region for the remarkable work they have accomplished in the process.

For Dr. Alpha Ba, this meeting to launch the national campaign to formalize organizations into agricultural and community cooperative societies is of capital importance because the DER/FJ is about formalizing, training, and financing. "So, what we want through these agricultural cooperatives is nothing other than these 3Fs," he said, before thanking the General Delegate for her open-mindedness in favor of territorial equity.

“We are here to teach each of you how to fish so that you can be self-sufficient and independent.”

Addressing the beneficiary agricultural cooperatives, the Secretary of State sought to reassure them. "Now, the DER has done what it must do, and this is just a beginning. There are other things that will be added to what we have done today. The most important thing is that the one who says, 'Come, I'll teach you how to fish,' is better than the one who says, 'Come, I'll give you fish.' And what brought us here is to teach each of you how to fish so that you can be self-sufficient and independent," emphasized Dr. Alpha Ba.

After Kougheul, Dr Aïssatou Mbodj and Dr Alpha Ba headed to Kaolack in the afternoon to also launch the campaign there.