Kolda, Feb 13 (APS) – Adja Fatou Ndiaye, manager of a local product processing unit in Kolda, pleaded on Monday, in an interview with APS, for mechanization in the processing of local products which is attracting more and more more actors, especially women.
Mrs. Ndiaye said that this would help to ”improve the working conditions of women in the units located in the region in order to further boost the marketing of the said products outside the Kolda region”.
The mechanization of the local product processing sector remains one of the main concerns of actors in the local product processing sector in the Kolda region (South).
On the occasion of the day dedicated to women processors celebrated on Sunday, the actors of the sub-sector campaigned in favor of the introduction of mechanization in the processing of local products.
”The processing of local products is well underway in Kolda with the support of the State of civil society organizations, the sector suffers from a lack of machinery for the processing and enhancement of these local products, we must necessarily go towards mechanization,” argued Adja Fatou Ndiaye, manager of a local product processing unit located in the Sikilo district.
”If we have machines, we can work without difficulty and if we want a cold room to be able to preserve our products, especially horticultural ones”, launched Ms. Ndiaye.
In the local product processing sector, players are still faced with problems, in particular the introduction of new information and communication technologies to sell local products.
In Kolda, ”region of paradoxes” – because it has great potential – the processing of local products is attracting more and more women to the sector who are developing income-generating activities thanks to the support of the State and development partners.
Ms. Adja Fatou Ndiaye’s processing unit has more than 50 women working there. The unit was set up thanks to the partnership between the State of Senegal and Canada through the former Support Program for the Economic Development of Casamance (PADEC).