Press Release

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ketline Adodo; kadodo@ifdc.org
DATE: March 5, 2003

The Burkina Faso Government and IFDC Strengthen Their Cooperation

Lome, Togo—The Honorable Minister of Finance and Budget, Jean-Baptiste M.P. Compaore, and the Director of IFDC’s Africa Division, Dr. Henk Breman, on behalf of IFDC’s President and Chief Executive Officer, signed a memorandum of understanding on February 10, 2003. By signing this memorandum, IFDC strengthens its support to the Burkina Faso Government by implementing policies that intensify agricultural production through the Integrated Soil Fertility Management.

Input supply has become a significant constraint to African countries striving to increase agricultural production and secure food for their populations. “Soil fertility improvement, input supply and marketing are among the key areas of knowledge and expertise developed by IFDC,” said Breman.

IFDC is helping seven West African countries to achieve their agricultural objectives and to develop input markets in a number of countries including Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Nigeria. “This agreement with IFDC really comes at the right time,” said Minister of State and Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Waterworks, Salif Diallo.

Diallo expressed concerns about the lack of fertilizers for the upcoming planting season. A considerable amount of input is detained at the Abidjan harbor because of the political crisis in Cote d’Ivoire. “The input situation looks even bleaker with the perspective of the war in Iraq and its possible impacts on the prices of fuel and fertilizers,” said Diallo.

Burkina is trying an ecological alternative with the “50,000 Compost Heaps Project.” However, this cannot cover the country’s global needs in plant nutrients. The Minister wants IFDC to help them implement alternatives such as:

Developing fertilizer production in the country using Burkina’s phosphate rocks;
Securing funds needed to implement Burkina’s National Action Plan for Soil Fertility Management.

“IFDC also counts on the full support of Burkina Faso for successful implementation of the Marketing Inputs Regionally (MIR) project. MIR will use regionalization as an instrument to facilitate timely access to good quality inputs at affordable prices for small-scale farmers,” said Breman.

Those who attended the signature ceremony included the representative of UNDP, representatives of the Ministry of Development and Cooperation, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Waterworks.

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