Senegal 
Senegal wrestles with pesticide problem

Misanet.com / IPS, 14 March - Senegal is having a hard time disposing of large quantities of dieldrine, a toxic pesticide banned since 1980, which it inherited from a now-defunct regional organisation. According to Senegal's Plant Protection Services (DPV), the country has 67,050 litres of dieldrine, a toxic chemical substance previously used against crop plant and animal parasites. The manufacture and use of this pesticide have been banned worldwide since 1980. 

The organisation which owned the supply of chemicals was the Common Organisation Against Locusts and Bird Parasites (OCLALAV) whose headquarters used to be located in the Senegalese capital. The chemicals are being kept in underground bunkers in several locations, four of which are in the Dakar suburbs. 

The OCLALAV comprised 14 countries from west and central Africa. Some of these countries - Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, and Gambia - were also members of the Inter-State Committee Against Sahelian Drought (CILSS). 

Senegal was one of the anti-crop parasite organisation's main bases in west Africa. "It's something we've inherited. The supply was supposed to be distributed to countries in the sub-region. Now that the OCLALAV hardly even exists, we have to now manage it," lamented the DPV officials. 

Managing this product poses a dilemma for Senegalese authorities, who have not yet figured out how to get rid of it. They have considered two options - sending it to the Netherlands for incineration in a special container, or having it destroyed locally. 

- To destroy this product in Senegal, we'd need extremely high-temperature incinerators, which do not exist here, explained Papa Sam Gueye, the head of the nematology study laboratory at the DPV. "A while ago, experts from the FAO visited the cement factory in Rufisque, about 40 kilometres from Dakar, but they saw that the site was not up to our needs," he goes on. 

The government is now seeking help from international donors, most notably the FAO, in order to send the banned substance to the industrialised world. "To this end, we're in advanced negotiations with the Netherlands, and the Alventis Group (formerly Rhone Poulenc), for one of them to destroy it," Papa Sam Gueye revealed. "We need the help of donors. Our country alone cannot resolve this problem, which requires considerable financial and technical assistance," added the director of the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA), Faustin Diatta. 

In spite of its prohibition, dieldrine continues to be used illicitly as a pesticide in the Niayes, a coastal area between Dakar and Saint-Louis, where 80 percent of the Dakar and Thies regions' produce is grown. Thies is located 70 kilometres from the capital. 

This was the conclusion of a team of ISRA researchers, who last November conducted a study on agriculture and animal farming in peri-urban areas. "During the study, which was done in the field, many truck farmers said it was one of the pesticides they used," said researcher Ibrahima Cisse.

But DPV officials deny this statement. "We would be very surprised if that were true. We're keeping an eye out for such things, and we work with the national police, which received the order to arrest anyone using dieldrine. It is true, however, that there may be traces of it in produce, but in insignificant amounts," Papa Sam Gueye responded. 

Still, in a recent study by the Economic and Social Council of Senegal, Sam Gueye, an agronomist and specialist in plant diseases, revealed that the pesticides used by truck farmers in the Niayes contain 0.25 percent organochlorines, of which dieldrine is one. 

While waiting for a solution to the problem, the DPV carefully guards its stock of dieldrine in underground concrete vaults. "It's all stockpiled and under lock and key in a safe place. Precautions have been taken so it poses no risk to the population," assures Ousmane Boye, a plant health inspector and head of the pesticide legislation bureau at the DPV.

He adds that before it was put away, it was pre-packed and placed in special containers. "This product is very toxic and its residues can remain in the environment for at least ten years. The consumption of products containing it can cause health problems, including cancer and genital malformations," warned Cisse. 

Its continued use could also end up polluting the groundwater, which is only five metres below the surface in the Niayes area. To avoid such situations, the ISRA has suggested that the government step-up enforcement on the use of banned pesticides. "The government must set up structured crop pollution control mechanisms," emphasised Dr. Safietou Cisse, another ISRA researcher. 

By Amadou Sakho, IPS

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