Burkina Faso/Agro-sylvo-pastoral offensive: FAO works alongside the government to achieve food self-sufficiency

On Monday February 19, 2024, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a field trip with the government and its partners to visit agro-pastoral projects in Dahisma, Louda and Boussouma, in the Centre-Nord region. At the end of the visit, the Minister Delegate in charge of Animal Resources praised the commitment of the FAO, with the support of Belgium and Sweden, to working alongside Burkina Faso to achieve food self-sufficiency and sovereignty.

The FAO, with its technical and operational partners the Direction régionale de l'agriculture, des ressources animales et halieutiques (DRARAH) and the Association vision, action développement (AVAD), has set up a Dimitra club, provided vulnerable households with breeding nuclei, and developed and promoted a market-gardening site in three communes of the Centre-Nord region: Dahisma, Louda and Boussouma.

Dimitra clubs to strengthen social cohesion

The FAO organized a field trip with the Minister Delegate in charge of animal and fishery resources, Dr Amadou Dicko, and his partners to present these achievements. The Dimitra clubs, set up with financial support from Belgium in Dahisma, 7km south-east of Kaya, were the first FAO initiatives visited by the delegation. The Dimitra clubs, dialogue and listening groups set up in this locality, number 10 and comprise almost 300 members. Their aim is to promote social cohesion and resolve members' major constraints without external support.

They have achieved some highly appreciable results. These include the collection and transportation of rubble, the treatment of gullies along the rural track to facilitate access to the village, reconciliation between young and old, and the availability of wood.and the availability of firewood for the whole village throughout the year, the making of bricks to increase the number of housing units at the CSPS, and the building of a shed to make up for the lack of shade at the school. Looking ahead, the Dimitra clubs intend to continue with this endogenous problem-solving approach, capitalizing on and disseminating best practices via the Kaya community radio station.

Livestock units to improve household incomes

After Dahisma, the delegation headed for Boussouma, in the village of Louda. In this locality, as in Hanhui, Sirghin, Forgui, Foutrigui and Koutoumtenga, the FAO, with financial support from Sweden, has been setting up small ruminant breeding units, notably for sheep and goats, since 2019. A total of 320 women have benefited from this FAO support. In Louda, 50 women each received three head of small ruminants (one male and two females) as core breeding stock, 50 kg of animal feed, support for the health of their animals and advice on how to better manage their core breeding stock...

The current population is estimated at 275 head. This initiative by the FAO and Sweden, with the support of implementing partners, has helped to build technical capacity in cow-calf breeding, improve household incomes and send children to school. In the words of one of the beneficiaries, Adjara Zabré, it also helps to care for children in the event of illness, to feed households and to rehabilitate household housing in the event of a disaster.

Market gardening to improve household incomes and nutrition

The latest project to be visited by the delegation from the FAO, the government and its partners, is the market garden site in sector 4 of Boussouma, to be set up in 2022. It is equipped with a borehole fitted with a 5,000-liter polytank, a solar-powered pump, a fence with wire netting, itself fitted with4 basins, a standpipe for drawing water for domestic use and an animal watering trough. 77 women, including 65 guests and 12 internally displaced women from the Association Song-Taaba des femmes de Boussouma (A.SO.F.E.B) are the beneficiaries of this one (01) ha site, of which 0.8ha is being farmed. During the 2022-2023 dry season, they benefited from 600kg of NPK and 40 watering cans; okra and corchorus seeds in the 2023-2024 dry season.

The following crops are currently produced: eggplant, cabbage, tomato, cucumber, onion, okra, corchorus, chili pepper and sweet bell pepper. Cycles for these crops range from 90 to 120 days. This market-gardening site has brought added value to the daily lives of the beneficiary women. From improving nutritional quality and household income to strengthening social cohesion, getting children into school and contributing to health costs, etc., the site has had a major impact on the lives of the women who have benefited, are all impacts on the lives of the "other half of the sky" in particular, and the family in general.

Satisfaction from the Minister

At the end of the visit, the Minister Delegate in charge of Animal Resources, Dr. Amadou Dicko, expressed his satisfaction with the achievements of the FAO and its technical and operational partners. "We went out to the Centre-Nord region to see the achievements of FAO and its decentralized technical services. We are already satisfied with what has been done. We found young people and women very mobilized and dynamic for endogenous development. We saw young people committed to social cohesion in their locality, and who are carrying out many community activities, notably road rehabilitation", he said.

He also praised the dedication of these women, who have received reproductive nuclei and succeeded in multiplying them and becoming self-sufficient. the agro-sylvo-pastoral and halieutic offensive 2023-2025, which, in time, should enable us to promote eight sectors in order to be self-sufficient and create many jobs in the agricultural and livestock sectors. So we really appreciate the value of this community field. Despite the difficulties, these women manage to produce several crops a year on a regular basis", concluded the Minister Delegate in charge of animal and fishery resources.

The FAO has also reassured the government that it stands by its side in this agro-sylvo-pastoral offensive. "We are committed to working alongside the authorities, in particular the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Resources and Fisheries, as well as the authorities of the Centre region.s of the authorities in the Centre-Nord region to strengthen the resilience of communities in the face of the security challenge, before the onset of the security crisis. We are going to continue with several projects to support similar achievements in improving the productivity of food crops, market gardening and so on, in line with the Group's commitment to the environment.in line with the 2023-2025 agropastoral and fisheries offensive launched by the government", reassured the FAO representative in Burkina Faso, Dauda Sau.

Source: lefaso.net/