Départ de chercheurs vers d’autres structures étrangères, recherche agricole en danger : L’ISRA crie son désarroi, face à l’inaction de l’État
The Autonomous Union for Agricultural and Agri-Food Research (SARAA) no longer hides its exasperation at the authorities' deafening silence. In a new press release, researchers and associates at the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA) denounce a prolonged and incomprehensible inaction, despite their repeated warnings over the past few months.
ISRA, a strategic pillar of food sovereignty in Senegal, is today suffocated by administrative blockages, a glaring lack of funding and a growing demotivation of researchers.
Among the points of contention: the decree on the new salary scale still awaiting signature; a half-applied establishment regulation, depriving researchers of their right to study trips; the immobilized CRODT research vessel, preventing the evaluation of fishery resources; a persistent crisis of certified seeds, due to lack of resources, and a flouted commitment by the government which had promised the recruitment of 200 researchers in 5 years, while mass departures are already emptying the institution of its vital forces.
The most shocking thing, warns the SARAA press release, is that the clear instructions given by the President of the Republic during the Council of Ministers on June 11, 2025, were not followed.
"President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye had clearly given instructions to 'strengthen ISRA's human, financial, and technical resources.' To date, no concrete measures have been taken. On the contrary, the working conditions of ISRA staff continue to deteriorate, making ISRA less and less attractive," the statement reads. Worse still, "the departure of researchers to other national, regional, and international organizations" is a concern for the researchers.
Faced with this inertia, the union is threatening to hold sit-ins and a general strike in the coming days. "This is why SARAA deemed it necessary to sound the alarm so that the authorities at the highest level of the State can take charge of this situation, which risks compromising all the efforts made by our country to achieve food sovereignty."
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