Agropole Sud, a major hub for business incubation and job creation for young people and women, is the largest project of Senegal's National Agropole Development Program (PNDAS). Agropole Sud aims to create 50,000 jobs, including 15,000 direct jobs. The presentation was given by the National Coordinator of the PNDAS in Senegal, Aïssatou Ndiaye.

The infrastructure installed in Baghagha, in the municipality of Adéane, was visited by Head of State Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye on December 23, 2025. This visit took place during his economic tour of the southern region of the country. It provided an opportunity to observe the progress of the work and to launch phase 2, which consists of an expansion of the Southern Agropole.

It will be expanded by an additional 45 or even 50 hectares to revitalize and/or stimulate the economy of the natural region of Casamance, and beyond to move towards food sovereignty.

Agropole intervenes on several fronts to develop the agro-industry in Senegal, explained Aïssatou Ndiaye.

This involves the establishment and expansion of agro-industrial parks, an expansion of park areas to a minimum of 50 hectares to benefit on-site processing in addition to storage and the integration of all sectors with processing potential, beyond the initial priority sectors.

         300 million to support SMEs

As part of the support provided to SMEs, partnership agreements have been utilized. Agreements have thus been signed with the Bureau de Mise à Niveau (Upgrading Bureau), the Institut de Technologie Alimentaire (Food Technology Institute), the Association Sénégalaise de Normalisation (Senegalese Standardization Association), and the Association Sénégalaise pour les Exportations (Senegalese Export Association).

"These agreements, totaling 300 million FCFA, will help SMEs to comply with standards, control quality, and benefit from technical support, incubation, training and advisory support," she explained.

Regarding production, marketing and processing, collaborations are underway with the Ministry of Agriculture.

           New guidelines from the supervisory authority, a 60% transformation rate anticipated

The strengthening of the budget and the expansion of the scope have facilitated new instructions and guidelines from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, according to the national coordinator of the National Agropoles Development Program.

"The new guidelines we received from our supervising minister are to expand the areas of agri-food parks to a minimum of 50 hectares, but also to include the entire processing aspect. Because originally, there were parks at the departmental level that only considered the storage aspect. But we want to process on site, therefore creating jobs locally. The financing of the southern agropole to the tune of 57 billion by the State of Senegal, by development banks, supported by the AfDB and the IDB, African Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank justifies this new direction," explained Aïssatou Ndiaye.

"We recently received an additional budget of 41 billion in the 2026 Finance Law for the southern agropole, but we also have 50 billion for the central agropole. This additional budget will allow us not only to accelerate the implementation of these nine parks, but also to take into account the new directions, namely having more land, including the processing component, but above all also value chains, because initially, we were only focused on priority value chains. Now, any value chain with processing potential, especially production, but processing, can be integrated into the agropoles," Ms. Ndiaye informed.

For the Minister of Industry and Trade, this is a new chapter opening within the framework of this large-scale project.

"The first thing you need to know is that it's the largest of all. It covers 85 to 100 hectares and will allow for the installation of 50 to 100 factories. The cost of this agropole is 57 billion, to which we will purchase an additional 43 billion CFA francs for the extension. So it will be roughly one hundred billion. What is also very important is the role of the agropole. You can see that it is designed not just as an industrial zone, but as a living zone," declared Minister Serigne Guèye Diop.

He added that the real innovation lies in the incubator center. "Today, many young people, many women have ideas, but they can't manage to build their own factory. So, you'll see, we're going to allow them to build factories. They'll be there for two or three years for this incubation period; they'll go from 100 kilos per hour to 1000 kilos per hour to effectively enable industrialization. And then the last element that seems important to me is the consumption center," stated the Minister of Industry and Trade.

         9 other agropoles

The minister announced the creation of other agro-industrial parks across the southern region. Beyond this expansion at the departmental level, the development of other products will also take place.

"After this agropole, you should know that there are nine others, just for the Casamance region. There will be one in Oussouye, and in each department, there will be an industrial platform that will allow it to develop. [...] The processing of industrial products is essential in a country. A country cannot export cashew nuts, as you know, here we only had cashew nuts, corn, and other things. Today, we have decided to extend the agropole's activity to all raw materials, that is to say, to forest products, mad, dithar, for beverages. We have also decided to expand it to fishery products, shrimp, fish, and so on, to packaging," explains the Minister of Industry and Trade.

The idea is that all those who have the potential and the opportunity to do their work in this agricultural and industrial hub should be able to do so, especially with the expansion of the Adéane site itself.

Serigne Guèye Diop reports an execution rate of over 90% of the work at this site before this expansion phase.

"We're practically at 95%. In reality, what you see in the agropole is just the solar panels, as you can see there. The furniture has already been purchased, the labs are already equipped," he said. The first companies will move into the southern agropole between January and February 2026.