The context
Shelter For Life International, a faith-based development organisation, is implementing a six-year programme in Senegal funded by the United States Department of Agriculture's Food for Progress. Part of that funding comes from monetizing crude degummed soybean oil on the local market.
The arrangement raised a legitimate question: would large volumes of imported oil destabilise Senegal's groundnut sector?
What the market shows
Senegal's cooking oil market runs a structural deficit. National production capacity stands at roughly 6,000 tonnes per month against estimated monthly demand of 15,000 tonnes.
The national production capacity of cooking oil is 6,000 MT per month, against a monthly demand of 15,000 MT.
State-regulated oils — groundnut, soybean, sunflower — coexist with unregulated imports, chief among them palm olein.
The conclusion
The study establishes that CDSO monetization does not negatively affect local groundnut oil production. It supported industrial activity at COPEOL-OLEOSEN, which refined and marketed the oil under the JAARA trademark without disrupting existing supply chains.
The factors that genuinely weigh on local groundnut oil sales lie elsewhere: fraudulent imports from Mauritania, The Gambia and other countries; the high price of locally refined groundnut oil; and competition from significantly cheaper palm olein.
What we recommended
- Resume deliveries of crude degummed soybean oil, since regulatory approval is already in place
- Run consumer education campaigns on the nutritional qualities of the different oils
How to cite this study
REFT Africa (B. Ndoye et al.), 2019. Post-Monetization Impact Assessment — LIFFT-Cashew Project (Senegal), Baseline. Octobre 2019. Étude commanditée par Shelter For Life International (SFL), sur financement du programme Food for Progress du Département de l'agriculture des États-Unis (USDA).