Informality, Trade Policies And Smuggling In West Africa

In West Africa, recorded intra-regional trade is small but informal cross-border trade (ICBT) is pervasive, despite regional integration schemes intended to promote official trade. We argue that ICBT must be understood in light of two features of West African national boundaries: divergent economic policies between neighboring countries and the ease with which informal operators can ship goods across borders. We focus on two ICBT clusters: Senegal–The Gambia and Nigeria–Benin–Togo. Nigeria and Senegal have protected their domestic industries with high import barriers, whereas Benin, Togo and The Gambia have maintained lower import taxation. These differential trade policies, together with high mobility of goods and people across borders, lead to widespread smuggling, with goods imported legally in low-tax countries and re-exported unofficially to countries with higher import duties

Les espaces de l'halieutique

La mobilité des pêcheurs artisans ouest-africains est remarquable et doit être mieux comprise pour envisager une gestion des pêches adaptée, notamment quand elle concerne les réglementations de l'espace exploité. Nous présentons une typologie de la mobilité de sorties de pêche artisanale au Sénégal. Les sorties sont décrites en elles-mêmes d'un point de vue "halieutique", comme des mises en oeuvre de moyens efficaces et adaptés pour l'exploitation et l'exploration des ressources vivantes. Nous appelons types de classes de sorties distinguées suivant des critères de stabilité, de proximité ou de successions. Des aspects de mobilité variés apparaissent au niveau des types. Ces aspects sont soit des aspects "halieutiques" généraux, explicables du point de vue halieutique précédent, soit des "aspects locaux" explicables par d'autre interactions. Nous tentons de traiter cette complémentarité avec une logique systématique. Cette approche permet de comparer des modes de gestion de l'espace en considérant les formes de mobilité. Nous proposons une typologie de la mobilité liée aux adaptations aux conditions générales de ressources et de marché d'une part et aux évolutions locales des communautés et de leurs activités d'autre part. (Résumé d'auteur

AGRICULTURE AND RELATED SECTORS IN THE CILSS COUNTRIES: PAST PERFORMANCE AND STRATEGIC CHOICES FOR THE FUTURE

The document identified five priority areas on which to focus future development plans and projects: 1) human resource development; 2)institutional capacity building; 3) rapid and sustainable development of agricultural production; 4) economic growth and diversification; 5) greater regional integration and ties to the world economy. Recognizing that several of these priorities reached beyond its mandate, CILSS recommended that other more qualified regional organizations (ECOWAS, UEMOA) assume their responsibilities in pursuing these objectives. This paper analyzes the past performance, potential for and challenges facing the agricultural sector in the Sahel, focusing on the factors critical to increasing household income and improving food security in the Sahel. It is divided in four parts.Industrial Organization,

Evaluation et amélioration du comportement de Atriplex lentiformis (Torr.) S. Watson en milieux salés au Sénégal

La salinisation des sols constitue l’une des principales menaces à la  productivité agricole dans les zones estuariennes du Sénégal. La mycorhization pourrait améliorer l’efficacité de la méthode biologique de désalinisation des sols. Atriplex lentiformis associé ou non au champignon Rhizophagus irregulare a été observé en milieu réel, et en serre dans un dispositif bi-factoriel (mycorhization et salinité) en blocs complets randomisés avec 3 répétitions. Les variables mesurées sont la hauteur, le diamètre, la litière, la teneur en eau, en sodium des plants, la salinité et l’acidité du sol. Les résultats montrent un taux de mortalité supérieur à 90% en milieu réel. Les individus plantés sur ados ont développé un enracinement superficiel alors que les semis naturels ont présenté un système racinaire pivotant et profond. La mycorhization a entraîné une réduction de la mortalité de 5,56%, une importante persistance des feuilles, une teneur en eau plus élevée dans les tiges et racines que dans les feuilles et enfin un stockage de sodium plus élevé dans les feuilles. La dose de sel 186 g.l-1 a été létale pour Atriplex lentiformis, mycorhizé ou non. La symbiose endomycorhizienne améliore ainsi le comportement de Atriplex lentiformis en milieu salé.Mots clés : Atriplex lentiformis, mycorhization, salinité, stress, Sénégal

Alteration of post harvest diseases of mango Mangifera indica through production practices and climatic factors

Mango production in Senegal takes place over the two seasons of dry and humid conditions between April and November. The increasing demand for fresh mangoes has led to an increase in land areaallocated to that crop. Mango production suffers, however, from fruit rotting due to post-harvest diseases during ripening. These diseases reduce the fruit quality and cause severe losses. A surveywas carried out in 2004 to detect fungi involved in post-harvest rot of mangoes (cv. Kent) produced in the Niayes area of Senegal in relation with the production practices and the climatic conditions. Theresults showed that at first harvest during the dry season, a broader species range of fungi including Alternaria sp., Botryodiplodia theobromae, Dothiorella sp., Aspergillus niger and non-identified fungiwere responsible for mango rotting. The fruits harvested during the humid season, however, were more heavily infested but a smaller number of fungal agents were involved; Colletotrichum gloeosporioidesand secondarily Phoma mangiferae played the main role. The cultural practices played an important role on mango infection whereby orchard sanitation and particularly cleaning and pruning reduced theinfection rates. Orchards with no care, in contrast, yielded the most heavily infested mango samples. In addition, the harvest practice of inversion of fruits in soil for sap elimination increases contaminationwith pathogenic fungi

Linkages Between Agricultural Growth and Improved Child Nutrition in Mali

This paper presents the results of the first phase of a project aimed at analyzing the links between agricultural growth in Mali and child nutritional status. The objective of this project is to strengthen these links through applied research and extension. The first phase of the project was designed to generate hypotheses concerning the relationship and review existing data to test these hypotheses, generate new hypotheses and draw policy implications. The second phase of this project will carry out in-depth research to address the critical questions left unanswered in phase I and initiate actions designed to improve these links.food security, food policy, child nutrition, Mali, agricultural growth, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, Downloads July 2008-July 2009: 13, I1,

Rare association of Turner syndrome and Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster Hauser syndrome

Turner syndrome and Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome is a rare association. The incidences of Turner and MRKH syndromes are estimated at 1/2000 and 1/4500 female births respectively. This is a 23-year-old patient, born of a consanguineous marriage, who was referred to us for exploration of primary amenorrhoea. The karyotype, performed three times, from peripheral blood lymphocytes was 45X0. The diagnosis of Turner syndrome associated with MRKH syndrome was retained