Investment/ Germany pledges €100 million for Senegal’s cold storage push
Germany announced a major investment commitment this week to help Senegal tackle one of agriculture’s most persistent problems: spoiled harvests. Investors pledged 100 million euros (about $114 million) to build cold storage facilities across the country, a move officials unveiled at the German-Senegalese Business Day on June 22.
The announcement came during President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s three-day state visit to Germany.
Government officials say the funding will target storage solutions for perishable crops like onions, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and other vegetables; products that suffer badly from poor preservation infrastructure.
Each year, Senegal loses between 30% and 40% of its agricultural output after harvest, a problem officials estimate costs the horticulture sector roughly 50 billion CFA francs, or about $90 million, in lost revenue.
No timeline or sector breakdown has emerged yet, but the funding builds on an existing effort: Agricool, a public-private partnership worth 170 billion CFA francs ($314.8 million), signed last September.
That program plans ten refrigerated warehouses across major farming regions, including Niayes, Casamance, and Matam, along with a renewable energy component. Crews broke ground on the first warehouse in Ngomène, near Thiès, back in February.
The need keeps growing. Senegal harvested record volumes last year; nearly 450,000 tons of onions, 245,000 tons of potatoes, and 112,500 tons of bananas output that has outpaced existing storage capacity.
Whether German money turns into working cold rooms anytime soon remains an open question.
Yann Malick
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