Agricultural economic reforms, gender inequalities and poverty in Senegal

Open Access

Abstract

In Senegal, as in many developing countries, the agricultural sector plays a key role in the economy. As well as supplying food, agriculture is the most important source of employment, especially for women. Through the Plan for an Emerging Senegal (PES) the Senegalese government is implementing an ambitious financing plan to improve the productivity of the agricultural sector and to improve women's employment opportunities. Our study assesses the impact of two PES measures (investing in the agricultural sector and an increase in production subsidies for the agricultural sectors) on economic growth, women's employment, poverty and inequality using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model linked to a micro-simulation model. While on the one hand, we find that investing in the agricultural sectors has positive impacts on growth, improves women's work opportunities, decreases poverty and inequality both in the short and long term, however increasing production subsidies in the agricultural sectors has positive effects only in the short term and does not reduce inequality or poverty in the long term.