Facing difficulties related to the financing of production tools, raw materials, promotion of their products, and distribution, smaller artisanal-level companies can nevertheless find their market niche thanks to increasing consumer demand for local products. This comes with the challenge, however, of producing high-quality, safe and healthy food products which consumers have come to expect.

To support the successful implementation of standardization in Senegalese agrifood production companies, the Senegalese Association of Standardization has been established as a tool for the development of national standards and the promotion of quality and product certification. Significant efforts have been made by the association to identify the needs of economic operators, industrialists, consumer associations and laboratories regarding standards and a standardization program. This program has led to the development of some 30 specific national standards, compliance with which is becoming a strategic tool for small and growing enterprises.

Training sessions support standardization

Feed the Future Business Drivers for Food Safety, funded by USAID and implemented by Food Enterprise Solutions, held a training session on Senegalese national food safety regulations on November 17 and 18, 2021, to build capacity of local agribusinesses. The objective of this workshop was to enable managers of growing agribusinesses to understand the regulations and standards in force in the food sector and to be able to apply them in their professional environment. The workshop was attended by about 30 companies that all left with a clear vision of market expectations but also with the objective of strengthening the level of safety of their products.