Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is located in West Africa, with Mali to its north and Ghana to its south. The country’s total land area is 274,200 sq km. In comparison, it is slightly larger than New Zealand, or about the size of the state of Colorado in the U.S. The climate in Burkina Faso is tropical with warm, dry winters and hot, wet summers. Of the total land area, 17 percent is utilized for cultivated crops, while no measurable amount of the total land supports permanent crops such as fruit- and nut-bearing trees. The country’s population is approximately 15.7 million. Roughly 90 percent of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought. Cotton is the country’s primary cash crop, but exports of livestock and gold have also added to Burkina Faso’s economy.

Burkina Faso has joined with three other cotton-producing countries in the region – Benin, Chad and Mali (known as the Cotton-4 countries) – to lobby in the World Trade Organization for fewer subsidies to cotton producers in competing countries. But even with these intensified efforts, Burkina Faso remains one of the world's poorest countries, with a 77 percent unemployment rate and 46 percent of the population living in poverty. It also has few natural resources and suffers from a weak industrial base. Other agricultural products in Burkina Faso include peanuts, shea nuts, sesame, sorghum, millet, maize and rice. The North and West Africa Division is responsible for IFDC activities in Burkina Faso.
 

 Current IFDC Projects in Burkina Faso

• Marketing Inputs Regionally (MIR Plus), 2009-2013
  MIR Plus is improving policy and regulatory environments in the 15 nations of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS). The project is increasing the use and efficiency of agro-inputs, improving the availability of technical and market information and using technology to link producers’ organizations with agro-dealers. The project links 2.23 million farmers to agro-dealers who will help train and supply the farmers. The project should increase maize and rain-fed rice yields by 20 percent for targeted farmers in Ghana and Nigeria, and increase irrigated rice yields in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone by 20 percent.

DONORS: Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Netherlands’ Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS)

• Prevention of Seed Cotton Contamination in West Africa, 2009-2013
  This three-year pilot project is assisting cotton traders, producer organizations and 27,000 farmers in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali to significantly reduce high levels of cotton contamination. More than 100,000 tons of seed cotton will be affected over the life of the project. The project demonstrates that enhanced efforts to produce uncontaminated cotton lint are rewarded with higher world market prices, increasing revenues for both cotton enterprises and smallholder farmers.

DONOR: Common Fund for Commodities, European Union

• Professionalization of Agro-Input Dealers in Burkina Faso (PRODIB), 2011-2014
  The primary goal of the PRODIB project is to increase agricultural productivity and to boost the incomes of approximately 375,000 smallholder farmers in the country by increasing the availability, accessibility and affordability of quality agro-inputs in rural areas. The three-year project is implemented by IFDC in close collaboration with the Association of Agro-Input Wholesalers and Retailers of Burkina Faso (AGRODIA).

• USAID West Africa Cotton Improvement Program (WACIP), 2007-2013
  USAID WACIP is boosting the productivity and profitability of the cotton sector in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, known as the Cotton-4 (C-4) countries. IFDC works with farmers, researchers, input distributors, private enterprises, inter-professional associations and textile artisans – promoting advanced agricultural practices that improve yields, building capacities, supporting the ginning sector and training artisans to access regional and international markets.

DONOR: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Recent IFDC Projects in Burkina Faso

• From Thousands to Millions (1000s+), 2006-2010
  The 1000s+ project is improving the livelihoods of one million farm households, involving 10 million people, through the up-scaling of IFDC’s Competitive Agricultural Systems and Enterprises (CASE) approach. The farmer-led initiative, based on agribusiness cluster formation, targets Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo. The project also focuses on Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM), improving soil fertility through the combined use of mineral and organic fertilizers.

DONOR: The Netherlands’ Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS)

• Accelerating Agribusiness in Africa – Bridge (AAA-Bridge), 2011-2012
  The AAA-Bridge project was an extension of Strategic Alliance for Agricultural Development in Africa (SAADA-B) activities. The objective of AAA-Bridge was to expand IFDC activities and best practices developed in West Africa, such as the Competitive Agricultural Systems and Enterprises (CASE) solution, Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM), fertilizer deep placement (FDP), fertilizer resource assessments and market information systems (MIS), into other regions of Africa. Specifically, this project expansion was designed to replicate the CASE approach and other aspects of the IFDC agribusiness model in select countries of eastern and southern Africa.

• Combating Soil Fertility Decline to Implement Smallholder Agricultural Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa (CSD-ISFM), 1996-2004, 2006-2009
  The CSD-ISFM project promoted a holistic natural resources management (NRM) approach to agricultural intensification and provided technical backstopping to IFAD projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) was central to improved NRM, and offered such advancements as combined soil and water conservation, soil amendments, agro-forestry and mineral fertilization to create a variety of highly effective production systems across many agro-ecological zones.

DONOR: Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (TSBF-CIAT)

• Improving Cotton Productivity in Benin, 2006-2009
  The project strengthened the capacities of farmers and producer organizations, reduced poverty and improved livelihoods while creating sustainable increases in cotton production. The project utilized an Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) approach, improving cotton quality and quantity with superior inputs, crop protection products and more effective harvesting and storage.

DONOR: Embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

• Mainstreaming Pro-Poor Fertilizer Access and Innovative Practices in West Africa, 2010-2013
  The project improved livelihoods in West Africa with a focus on resource-poor farmers, farmer organizations and community associations through improved land husbandry and better access to, and more efficient use of fertilizer. The project utilized a holistic Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) approach to improve depleted soils. The project also focused in the areas of natural resources, improved technologies, competitive markets, private enterprise development and national policy advocacy.

• Marketing Inputs Regionally (MIR), 2002-2008
  The MIR project increased the affordability and accessibility of quality inputs for targeted smallholders in West Africa, and provided technical support and training for farmers and dealers. MIR developed regional and national regulatory frameworks, supported the advancement of farmer and agro-dealer associations, facilitated dialogue along the value chain and implemented sustainable development of the cotton agro-input sub-sector.

DONOR: The Netherlands’ Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS)

• NEPAD-FAO Fertilizer Subsidy Study, 2011-2012
  The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) commissioned this study on fertilizer subsidy programs in eight African countries, with technical guidance and financial support provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and IFDC. The study is an overview of different subsidy models, thus providing a menu of best practices for countries considering ‘smart’ subsidies or wishing to alter ongoing subsidy programs. The study focuses on fertilizer subsidy programs in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia.

DONORS: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

• Strategic Alliance of Agricultural Development in Africa (SAADA), 2006-2010
  For the SAADA project, IFDC has organized a strategic alliance of international non-governmental organizations to facilitate regional, national and multi-national agricultural intensification and agribusiness programs with an initial focus in West Africa – with project expansion into select countries of East and southern Africa. The project utilizes the Competitive Agricultural Systems and Enterprises (CASE) approach for agribusiness cluster formation and Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) to increase agricultural productivity.

DONOR: The Netherlands’ Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS)

Burkina Faso Information

Burkina Faso Articles

IFDC Develops Sustainable Value Chains and Increases Profitable Agriculture in West Africa (Taken from IFDC Report Volume 36, No. 4)

IFDC Core Competency: Gender Equity is Key to Feeding the Hungry (Taken from IFDC Report Volume 36, No. 4)

WACIP Extended into 2012 and IFPRI and IFDC Study the Condition of Fertilizer Markets in West Afric (Taken from IFDC Report Volume 36, No. 2)

MIR Plus and Professionalization of Agro-Input Dealers in Burkina Faso (PRODIB) (Taken from IFDC Report Volume 36, No. 2)

Changing Lives