The country of Teranga validated in 2022 its national strategy for the development of the oyster sub-sector.
Oysters are an important source of nutritious food for the Senegalese population. However, the demand on the national market is higher than the supply, a deficit that is filled by imports from neighboring countries. Based on this observation, the state authorities want to increase annual production, which is currently 16,000 tons, including 400 tons from oyster farming.
“Our objective is to increase the annual production of oysters to 21,000 tons,” said Awa Colle Gaye, coordinator of the FISH4ACP project, an initiative of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP), which contributes to food and nutritional security, economic prosperity and job creation by ensuring the economic, social and environmental sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture.
Speaking at the opening of the National Oyster Day whose first edition was organized in 2022, Ms. Gaye stressed that 99 percent of oysters sold in Senegal are processed, either dried, grilled or boiled.
“The sector, she added, employs 13,000 people, mainly women. This is why the Senegalese authorities are participating in the restoration of the 200,000 hectares of mangroves in the country, the main habitat of
oysters.”
Awa Colle Gaye went on to explain that there is a need to better understand the sector, including its ecological, biological and health environment. To do this, she pleaded for the establishment of a system of health monitoring and surveillance, the development of oyster farming, and the development, processing and marketing of oysters.
Among the obstacles to the development of the oyster industry, Mamadou Diop, Chief of Staff of the Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy, cited the exploitation which remained artisanal and the overexploitation of the resource. “However, he said, the oyster industry is a labor-intensive activity. That is why the government has
retained among the pillars of the Senegalese Emerging Plan (PSE) fishing and aquaculture.”
Organized at the initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through its FISH4ACP Program, the National Oyster Day is a tool for the promotion and communication of oyster
products and provides a framework for exchange, sharing and learning about the different segments of the oyster value chain.
For Robert Guei, FAO Representative in Senegal and Coordinator of the FAO Sub-regional Office for West Africa, the meeting, which will review the strategy for upgrading the value chain of the oyster, will also be the place for meeting and dialogue between the management structures, institutions involved, stakeholders and national
professional organizations. “In the medium term, the objective is to strengthen and perpetuate the event relaunched since 2022 by the FISH4ACP Project,” Dr. Guei recalled.
TE/fss/abj/APA