“The agricultural sector employs 77 percent of Senegal’s workforce. Rice is the country’s staple crop, but millet is the most widely grown crop, largely because of low rainfall in most of the country. The severe drought in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s contributed to migration into cities. The share of GDP from agriculture has been declining since the mid-1980’s, despite noticeable improvements over the last decade, reflecting the growing dominance of the service sector. The malnutrition rate for children under five years (14.5 percent) is decreasing. The increase in life expectancy from 40 years in 1960 to more than 50 years in 2008 has been driven by improvements in health care, including efforts to reduce the mortality rate of children under five years.”
