Manufacturers of feed for livestock in Senegal are consuming their last reserves. Due to lack of raw material many will soon have to stop their production. This is even more threatening for animal production, which has suffered from a lack of forage because of the low rainfall.
Yann Lefustec, a feedmiller, said: "We have major problems of supply of raw materials , including peanut cake. I can no longer reach our normal capacity of 8,000 tonnes per month. "
According to Lefustec, due to the shortage of rainfall, farmers start knocking on their doors in droves. But, the plant is unable to meet all requests, and in addition has difficulties to meet the deadline for delivery, which is one month.
The import of raw materials does not solve the problem, because world prices have increased dramatically. "We import a lot of raw materials, such as soybeans and wheat. But because of the surge in world prices, we are forced to increase prices. This is not helpful to access to food, "says Lefustec.
The strong demand for livestock feed is also felt by producers of cotton seed, including the Development Corporation for Textile Fibres (Sodefitex). Dr. Massirin Savané, head of service animal breeding and production at the company said, "Sodéfitex has only 25,000 tonnes per year and the needs are enormous."
He therefore recommended to farmers to focus on the establishment of reserves fodder, including the collection of crop residues and whatever is forage.
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