Fatick Region

Fatick occupies the Groundnut Basin's central zone where salt production from the Sine and Saloum estuaries complements the peanut cultivation that defines agricultural identity. The region's 9.71% cropland expansion over the past decade reflects pressure on land that salinization and degradation increasingly compromise—the Saloum Delta's ecological sensitivity conflicting with agricultural intensification.

The Saloum Delta National Park and biosphere reserve provide conservation functions that tourism might monetize, the mangroves and shell islands creating landscapes unlike the agricultural interior. Whether eco-tourism can complement rather than displace farming income—or whether conservation restricts livelihoods that communities depend upon—tests whether environmental protection creates or forecloses opportunity.

The $191.7 million agro-industrial zone spanning Kaolack, Kaffrine, Fatick, and Diourbel targets the value-addition that raw commodity exports currently bypass. Fatick's participation in this regional development—salt alongside peanuts, millet, and maize—creates diversification potential that single-crop dependence cannot provide.