SENEGAL: Government celebration of farming initiative "premature"

DAKAR Friday, October 31, 2008 (IRIN) - Six months after President Abdoulaye Wade launched his agricultural growth initiative, small-scale farmers had mixed reviews even as the President on 27 October celebrated the initiative, touting record harvests for 2008. The Grand Agricultural Offensive for Food Security, or GOANA, was launched by President Wade in May 2008, with the aim of reaching self-sufficiency in Senegal's food production by 2015. Doubling rice production, and increasing maize and...