Van Oers United has initiated an extraordinary project in Senegal. Locally growing onions for the local market not only contributes to employment, but also helps Senegal in striving for self-sufficiency. Martin Riemens, CFO at Van Oers, talks about Van Oers Senegal on the RVO.nl site.
Big local market
"Van Oers has been active in Senegal since 2007. In winter, green beans for the European market are grown there. To keep the soil in good shape, other crops need to be cultivated in between that as well. That's called crop rotation. This way we discovered that we can also grow onions in Senegal. We came to the conclusion that there is a big local market for onions, which so far mostly came from abroad. Only a small part was grown in Senegal between February and June. With the aid of the PSI programme of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl), we were able to set up the cultivation and finance a packing station, for instance."
Successful project
The project has now been fully realized. Martin Riemens: "It's going very smoothly. There is a packing station and a storage warehouse. In the past year, we grew 40 hectares of onions. We are giving our permanent and temporary employees in Senegal more work now, over a longer period during the year. That doesn't just mean more income for them, we are also able to train them better." Van Oers considers it important to contribute to the country's development. Martin: "In addition to employment, we are also providing know-how and innovation. For instance, we provide water and crop protection for the crops through a drip system, which uses groundwater and is more efficient than spray irrigation."
Help from the embassy
Doing business in Senegal is completely different than in the Netherlands. "Before the start of this project, we had already gathered quite a bit of experience in Africa. In 2002, we already got started in Morocco. Senegal is a difficult country for doing business. One of the reasons for this is that land ownership isn't regulated properly. For instance, there's no land registry outside the big cities. You also need to take into account a lot of paperwork around the harbour with import and export. When facing difficulties, we got a lot of help from the local embassy. They were able to open the right door for us, and they really deserve praise for that," Martin says.
Rapport with local population
When you do business abroad, good rapport with the local population is essential, Martin says: "Van Oers Senegal realizes local projects, like constructing water lines for surrounding villages or a contribution to healthcare. For every kilo of export, a small amount goes there. Things like these are important for relations with the local population. You get a lot of support back for that. Partly thanks to that support, we can do subsequent investments. Van Oers sees a lot of potential in Senegal, and has now also started with a new farm."
Source: RVO.nl