Keypoints:
- Mané backs $20.5m agro-industrial project
- Plant targets 8,500 tonnes annually
- More than 1,000 direct jobs planned
THE Senegalese football star Sadio Mané is investing about $20.5m in a mango-processing complex in his home region, backing a project designed to cut crop losses, create jobs and retain more agricultural value inside Senegal.
The SM10 Agro project will be developed at Bambali in the southern Sédhiou region, combining production, processing and exports across 500 hectares. Senegal’s investment promotion agency, APIX, says the complex will process 8,500 tonnes of mangoes a year and create more than 1,000 direct jobs at start-up.
The investment moves Mané’s involvement in his home region firmly into agro-industry. Rather than focusing only on farming, SM10 Agro is being built around processing capacity — a longstanding weakness in African agriculture that often leaves producers selling raw commodities while higher-value manufacturing takes place elsewhere.
Turning losses into value
Mané said Sédhiou loses an estimated 30 to 40 percent of its mango harvest because of inadequate storage and processing facilities, according to Senegal’s state news agency APS.
‘I want the wealth of our land to stay here, with us in Senegal,’ he said while presenting the project in Dakar.
The complex is expected to include units for export preparation and the production of mango purée, dried mango and mango butter. A training centre is also planned to provide agricultural skills for young people and women.
SM10 Agro deputy director Aminata Tope told APS that the plantation is expected to contain about 78,000 trees, alongside research and development facilities and accommodation linked to the training centre.
The emphasis on processing reflects a wider African push to capture more value from agricultural production. Africa’s drive to expand agricultural productivity and local processing has intensified as governments seek to reduce food imports and create stronger domestic value chains.
Jobs beyond the factory gate
APIX says more than 1,000 direct jobs are expected in the initial phase. APS reported that the longer-term ambition is to support about 2,500 jobs once the project is fully developed.
Employment could also extend beyond the processing site through transport, agricultural supply, logistics and other services linked to the complex.
That wider value-chain effect is central to the project’s significance for Casamance, where agriculture remains an important source of livelihoods but producers still face constraints in storage, processing and market access.
By putting industrial capacity closer to mango-growing communities, SM10 Agro could give farmers another commercial outlet while reducing the distance between production and processing.
The project also fits Senegal’s broader push to expand agro-industry. Investment in Senegal’s agro-processing zones has sought to connect farming more closely with industrial production, exports and rural employment.
Regional financing is also supporting agricultural value chains and agro-industrial zones across Senegal and neighbouring West African economies.
Latest figures take precedence
Earlier project presentations cited annual processing capacity of 10,500 tonnes, but APIX’s latest specification puts planned capacity at 8,500 tonnes a year. Africa Briefing is using the most recent official figure.
APIX director-general Bakary Séga Bathily has described SM10 Agro as a territorial economic development project rather than simply an individual investment. APS reported that qualifying imported equipment for the development is expected to receive tax and customs exemptions for five years under Senegal’s investment framework.
The project’s foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in Bambali on September 19, formally launching construction of a complex that Groupe Confluence says should take about 18 months to build.
For Mané, the project marks a shift from community support towards productive investment. Its broader test will be whether a high-profile private project can turn one of Casamance’s most recognisable crops into processed goods, jobs and export earnings created closer to where the mangoes are grown.
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