Stories

National Mango Day Conference“National Mango Day” Conference Closes Successful Export Campaign for Senegalese Mangoes

6 November 2012
ITC News
The “National Mango Day” conference highlighted the success of the 2012 mango export campaign and provided an opportunity to review the achievements and future activities of the NTF II project “Reinforcing the Sustainable Competitiveness of the Mango Sector”.

Representatives from Senegal's Ministry of Trade, the Dutch Embassy in Dakar, business support institutions, mango exporters, producers and processors, and the International Trade Centre's NTF II team participated in the 5 October conference, which was organised by ITC, the Dutch Center for the Promotion of Exports (CBI) and the Senegalese Agency for the Promotion of Exports (Asepex). The agenda focused on initiatives undertaken by the NTF II project in the areas of quality, marketing and packaging.

The success of the 2012 export campaign reflects the growing demand for mangoes in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East and the unique position of Senegalese mangoes, which reach the market when major producers such as Brazil and Peru lack supply capacity.     

“Senegal exported 8,500 tons of mangoes,” said Alioune Sarr, General Director of Asepex. The sector “employs over 30,000 individuals, of which 10,000 are women, and is of critical importance for the Senegalese economy.”

So far this year, the NTF II Senegal project has trained over 200 producers in good agricultural practices, on preventing and treating fruit fly infestation, and on conditioning and packaging techniques. It's also provided technical support aimed at helping three enterprises willing to export and two groups of producers to obtain Global Gap and BIO certification, supported the attendance of exporters at the international Fruitlogistica trade fair, and generated commercial partnerships resulting in some 800 tons of exports. Two enterprises were certified GlobalGap in August, enabling their exports to European buyers.
In addition, an internationally accredited European laboratory analysed pesticide residue on samples from eight exporters; all were found to conform with MRL EU requirements.

 
Following the conference, which was held at the Institute of Food Technology in Dakar, participants discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the production and export of mangoes and made recommendations for the 2013 export campaign and long-term interventions. The suggestions confirmed the need to strengthen the dialogue between the private and the public sectors to address critical issues affecting exports.