1. Amadou NDIAYE
Presentation

2. Agricultural Non-family Workers
(Sourga) in Senegal River Valley
• Navetanat phenomenon:
- Colonial system: Introduction of groundnut
- Seasonal worker : Rainy season
- In 1970s : Regression (Economic crisis and dry climat)
• Sourga phenomenon : Niayes Zone and Senegal
River Valley (later 1990s)
- Sourga in Niayes Zone : Seasonals workers
 stay: Cold season
 paid as sharecropping
- Senegal River Valley : what about the phenomenom?

3. Objectives
• General objective : Determine status,
relationships and perpectives of the Sourga in the
Senegal River Valley
• Specifiques objectives :
- Describe the Senegal Valley cropping system
- Identify the type profile of Sourga in the River
Valley
- Characterize the relationship between Sourga and
employer

4. Results (1/7): The Valley system of
production (General system)
• The plots (Irrigation Facilities) : 102 525 ha in a
potential of 240 000 ha en 2010
• 3 seasons of cropping: Rainy season (July-
November) Cold season (November to February)
and Warm season (February to June).
• Two types of productions :
- Food production (rice and corn): Rainy /Warm
season
- Vegetable production: Cold season (tomato,
onions), Warm season (sweet potatoes), Rainy
(watermelon and cabidge)

5. Results (2/7): The Valley system of
production (farming system)
• Financing system
- A founding bank system : tomato mainly
- Divers sources of financing : Profit in the tomato,
Livestock commercialisation, Perdium, Migrant, Micro-
finance system.
• Inputs: extension system (state, NGO) and weekly
market
• Commercialisation: informal marketing system (except
tomato)
• Garanty : No agricultural insurance, No Fund of natural
disasters

6. Result (3/7): The sourga status (1/4)
• Agand training: 18 to 45 old, No training
• Origin : South side (peanut basin and casamance)
and neighboring countries (Gambia and 2 Guinea)
• Stay : Seasonal (agricultural campaign) or Years
• Housing : Rented room in village
Huts built in the field
• Activities and workload: Ploughing, Weeding,
Planting, Irrigation, Harvesting, Monitoring,
Protection

7. Result (4/7): The sourga status (2/4)
Sourga as Permanently worker
• Ratio : 3 sourga for a parcel of 0.5 ha
• The remuneration of the sourga :
- in-kind : many forms of sharecropping
- Cash: average 35000 FCFA/month
• Payment period:
- End of the campaign
- Cash advance

8. Result (5/7): The sourga status (3/4)
Sourga Temporary workers for Points operations:
- Rice: Herbicide treatment: 2 S/ha/ for day
Caretaking of birds: 1 S/ha for a month
Harvesting and Threshing: 10 S/day/ha
- Onion: Transplanting: 25 S/ day
Harvest: 22 S/ ha/day
- Tomato: Transplanting: 14 S/ha/ day
Harvest: 12 S (5 passages needed)

9. Result (6/7): The sourga status (3/4)
Terms and conditions Activities Amounts
Per day and person The rice crop 2700 FCFA
Hoeing tomato
Transplanting (onion and tomato)
Operation point/ ha Transplanting (tomato and onion) 22000 F.CFA
Sarclo hoeing (tomato and onion) 25000 F.CFA
Sustainable operation/ha Weed control, irrigation, harvesting 145000 FCFA
Caretaking against birds 35000 FCFA/ha

10. Result (7/7): Sourga and employer
relations : Informal contract
- Concerns: Time of work , start date and the end of
the contract, Field activities, Producers
commitments
- Benefits for the Sourga: Period of high intensity of
labor / contract renegotiation after each campaign
- Problems for the sourga: Non-payment of the
Sourga, Eternal working force, No Social security
support
- Threatens: Availability of labor (student of Koranical
schools), Proximity of big agribusiness

11. Discussions/ conclusion/ perspectives
• Possibilty of production for any time of the year
• Informal farming system with one consumption unit
(family) and several unit of production: NECESSITY of
Recruiting Sourga for cropping
• Enermous employment potential : 588 000 sourga
98 000 Ha (without temporaries sourga)
• Salary amount: 35000 frs per month (without period
of high labour intensity)
• But informal and no guaranted phenomenon

12. Discussions/ conclusion/perspectives
• Medium term: improve employment with combinaison
of :
- Professionalization of farmers
- Formalization of farms
- Involvement of the Labor Inspectorate (fomalisation of
contract)
• Short term : allow sourga to defend their interests with
- Good organization
- and outreach
• Straight away : Good knowledge of the phenomenon

13. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION