Koul: 42 actors from community agricultural cooperatives strengthened in leadership and management

Forty-two (42) actors from community agricultural cooperatives in the Mérina Dakhar district received their training certificates on Friday in Koul, in the Tivaouane department after five days of capacity building on transformational leadership, administrative management, financial education and the functioning of cooperatives.

Organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock, through the Support Program for the National Agricultural Investment Program of Senegal (PAPSEN), this training is part of the Senegal 2050 National Transformation Agenda, which makes community agricultural cooperatives a priority lever for achieving food self-sufficiency.

The closing ceremony took place in the presence of the deputy sub-prefect of the Mérina Dakhar district, Aly Koto Lakoune, the mayor of Koul, Modou Fall, technicians, trainers and beneficiaries.

Addressing the recipients, the mayor of Koul invited the members of the Koul community agricultural cooperative to increase training for other CAC stakeholders. “We cannot have food sovereignty without you. It now remains to work, but in transparency.

An organization is not managed in a patrimonial manner,” declared Mr. Fall, welcoming the efforts made by the State through the creation of several agricultural farms in the area. For his part, the PAPSEN central zone coordinator, Kalidou Kane, speaking on behalf of the national coordinator, recalled the context of the initiative.

“This training comes at the right time since it is in line with the Senegal 2050 National Transformation Agenda. This is how PAPSEN, financed by the State of Senegal-Italian Cooperation program, has set up agricultural cooperatives of several hundred hectares in the Mérina Dakhar district. It is in this context that this capacity building was organized for five days,” he underlined.

Mr. Kane indicated that this action will continue with other sessions, the perspective being to set up platforms for community agricultural cooperatives and to finalize the work of the cooperative’s six farms.

Presiding over the ceremony, the deputy sub-prefect of the district of Mérina Dakhar congratulated the participants and magnified the ministry’s commitment to the empowerment of women.

“You have just spent several days of training on transformational leadership, administrative management and financial education, followed by an assessment which allowed you to acquire skills to properly manage your cooperatives,” said Aly Koto Lakhoune.

“This activity once again shows the commitment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock to make farms a lever for wealth and job creation to fight poverty in rural areas and achieve food self-sufficiency,” he added.

According to him, since 2017, the ministry has done a lot through the creation of farms, supporting beneficiaries with agricultural equipment and constant support from technicians. He estimated that farms still need PAPSEN on the ground, as the end of the program approaches.

Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, the president of the Koul community agricultural cooperative, Babacar Diop, praised the support of PAPSEN and requested the extension of the program which should end next December. He invited the State to complete the remaining farms for the benefit of the populations and to achieve food self-sufficiency in the area.